


Saving People, Hunting Things - The Band's Business, Y'Know?

by Morrigan_Healy



Series: BTR Supernatural [2]
Category: Big Time Rush (TV), Supernatural
Genre: Demons, F/M, Hunters, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2020-06-30 01:56:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 29
Words: 62,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19843171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morrigan_Healy/pseuds/Morrigan_Healy
Summary: A rewrote Big Time Supernatural Issues set after five years after BTR's break up, everything is different. Being supernatural doesn't guarantee everything's okay, not by a longshot when there are things worse than vampires and werewolves roaming the earth. James/OC, Logan/Camille.Rewritten in 2015, Originally wrote in 2011.





	1. Chapter 1

James Diamond had just finished another night on tour, and he had never felt better – it felt good to be performing again. A few years prior, Big Time Rush had broken up, for reasons most fans didn't understand or just refused to come to terms with. Fact was, the boys had grown into men, and had grown out of the boyband image and lifestyle. Well, the other three had – James immediately began a solo career, and had and album mastered and released just nine months shy of the year anniversary of the break. Two months later he was on the road promoting it, and here he was in the teen-something night of said tour, which was to last about a month and a half.

Deciding to walk the block around the hotel he was staying at, he shrugged off the old memories of pillow fights and midnight vending machine runs when he and the boys were still together, shutting the door to his room behind him. It was late April, but for some reason the air still was a tad chilled, perhaps because the city was on the lake and a river ran through the business and tourist district, where the main shopping was. And even though it wasn't Minnesota, it almost made him miss it, almost. Chicago was above all a hockey town; its Blackhawks had claimed the Stanley Cup for their own twice in the past four years now. And asides from the sports and shopping, there was the music scene to consider – the venues and bars alone offered a unique look into the nightlife and sound of the city. Wanting to check out one of these bars (or atleast the House of Blues), James made his way down State Street, noticing it was lined with college students enjoying their last nights of freedom before exams.

Settling on a smaller locally-ran coffee shop with music handbills in the window, he smiled at the sound of the acoustic guitar from just inside. It would be a nice change from the pop and dance orientated music he'd been so used to as of late. From the moment he stepped inside, however, a strange feeling came over him – almost as though he'd been in this exact spot already, years earlier. He couldn't explain it, and didn't want to think about it.

Taking one of the lounge chairs beside the window, he turned to look at the stage – three guitar stands, and various high profile name guitars were on them, paired with a folder he assumed held chord sheets and lyrics. By the time his gaze broke from looking over said setup, a soft voice had met his ears.

"Can I get your order, sir? If I can recommend anything, I'd go with the gingersnap chai – it's a chai base with mocha and caramel syrup, and chocolate chips and chocolate whip cream."

He's momentarily taken aback by the sheer contrast between her hair and eye color, for deep maraschino cherry-red hair was offset by icy blue eyes that just seemed to immediately know him, as if he'd seen her before.

What was with all the déjà vu all of a sudden?

"Yeah, that sounds fine; make it a large, thanks."

"I'm on it."

Three minutes later she'd returned with a mug topped with chocolate whip cream and what looked like nutmeg and caramel drizzle. For it being almost quarter after ten, the girl seemed to be wide awake and energetic, then again, that could've just been due to the fact she worked in a coffee shop.

Looking around, James noticed the shop was empty – except for himself and the girl.

"I'm really sorry, am I keeping you? I didn't bother looking to see how late you were open, if you want to close you can kick me out, I've got a hotel room, I'll be fine." He apologized, running a hand through his hair, surprised when the girl pulled up a chair from one of the other tables and retrieved her own drink to set it on the table beside his.

"It's fine, I'm open until 11 unless it's killer slower, I'm not a Starbucks. People just don't seem to notice I'm here, that's all. My sister and I run it, she'll come in at ten AM and take over, I take the night shifts. It's nice, I guess. Gives me time to relax and play guitar, those are mine."

"How long have you played for? If you wouldn't mind, can I hear? I'm a singer myself, though I'm not used to having acoustic accompaniment anymore." He told the girl, noticing how her eyes had widened once he'd said singer.

"Forgive me; I totally forgot to introduce myself! I'm Riley Jameson, and you are?"

"James Diamond, nice to meet you. "

"Wait, didn't you used to be in Big Time R-"

"Big Time Rush? Yeah, that was my old band, I'm solo now. You don't have to feel bad about the break up, we've all moved on."

"I don't feel bad about it, it's just – it's hard to listen to some of the songs now, y'know? I can't really listen to- well, you know, I could just play them for you, you'd know them."

"If you want," he shrugged, taking another sip of the far-too-hot chai the girl had made.

Getting up, the girl tucked a few stray strands of hair behind her ear and adjusted her bangs, walking to the little stage, grabbing the takamine nearest her.

Her fingers fell into position easily, she'd played this song more times than she could count, recounting how she'd only seen it played live once, on Big Time Rush's first tour.

"There were so many things That I never ever got to say  
'Cause I'm always tongue tied With my words getting in the way  
If you could read my mind Then all your doubts would be left behind  
And every little thing Would be falling into place, yeah

And I would scream to the world They would see, you're my girl But I just..."

And before James can stop himself he's chimed in, he still knows the words, and this causes the girl to look up from her guitar and smile, he's who he's said he is.

"Keep gettin' stuck, stuck But I'm never givin' up, up In the middle of a perfect day,

I'm tripping over words to say 'Cause I don't want to keep you guessing

But I always end up gettin' stuck, stuck But I'm never giving up, up," he finishes the chorus, feeling his cheeks flame.

He hasn't sung anything he'd done with guys in a year or two now, and he's embarrassed by the fact the lyrics can still roll off his tongue. Putting her guitar back down, Riley stands and stretches, wincing when the both of them hear her back crack.

Laughing it off, she walks back to the chair and downs the rest of her drink, explaining afterwards, "I've been on my feet for almost four hours now, that's the first time I've sat down all day. So I guess I'm not sad anymore, if you guys are all doing well that's great. You're doing pretty well yourself, with that new album and all – how's the tour been?"

He almost laughed – this was the first girl he'd come across that wasn't swooning, not even in the slightest – she was completely calm and starting a casual conversation over coffee, at least, variants thereof.

"Alright. It's weird not arguing over silly stuff with the guys here and there, but seeing all the different cities is still just as fun as it used to be."

"I'd think it would be, I actually closed shop for a few hours today to come see your show earlier, it was a good time. I saw BTR several times when you guys were still together; I used to go up to Milwaukee for some of them."

He nodded, "You managed to close shop? Aren't you worried about losing business?"

"It's nothing big, my flat's upstairs, so when I wake up I can open and close right before I go to bed, even though I don't really need to close because my sister covers dayside."

"You'd said that, yeah. I'm just curious as to how you're so collected – usually girls like yourself are all caught up in-"

"Your image? The fact you're a successful performer? Try to get you to sign their bra like you're Jack Barakat? I'm used to that around here, every so often the Fall Out Boy boys come in here for coffee on their hunting trips, so I see them around."

"Hunting trips? Like Supernatural?" James asks; his hazel eyes wide with wonder.

Riley grins, rolling her eyes, "See, that's what most people assume, and quite frankly, if you're seen their video for A Little Less Sixteen Candles, that's this entire town really is. Vampires left and right, if you're not careful after dark here, you could be one of them soon enough."

"So why do you keep the shop open practically all night if there's vampires around? And come on, they can't be real, there's no way."

His mind drifted, back to the one time Carlos had insisted the Palm Woods was haunted by a ghost and then it turned out to be the new girl working on a low budget horror film without anyone knowing.

She shook her head.

"I've got- well okay, I took advice from Supernatural – there's salt on the windows and door entries to keep anything bad from getting in, and I've got a hunting kit with stakes and garlic under the bar by the syrups if I really need it. So I'm protected if anything happens. And I live just upstairs, so really I don't need to leave this building ever."

"I thought the salt was only demons?"

"It works wonders for all sorts of creatures, werewolves too, I've heard. So…oh boy, it's late – shouldn't you be getting back to your hotel?"

"But you just said that this town was – and you keep stressing you live upstairs. I'm not exactly inclined to leave a pretty girl like you alone and risk getting myself killed when I could just as easily crash with you tonight. Hate to ask, but you're of age, right? Don't want to get myself arrested if something happens." Wanting to add a wink at the end of that, James thought better of it and instead sighed.

"You can take the couch, I'll stay in my room, it's no problem. I'm turning 20 in two weeks, so it's fine if even something went down I guess. When you finish your drink, just set it on the counter and walk towards the bathrooms, there's a 'employees only' door, if you got through that it'll lead into a hallway that has another little door for a staircase, that leads up into my flat. I'll leave it unlocked for you, but I'm gonna go lock up here just in case some friends decide to visit."

"So you don't serve vampires?"

"Not their kind, no, do I look like Bella Swan?" she teased, and James just about choked, dropped the mug as he went to set it down, but just as it was going to hit the floor, to his surprise, Riley caught it.

"Again, used to this stuff."

And with a smile she'd walked off, leaving James slightly stunned at how quickly she'd reacted.

Twenty minutes later he'd walked back to where Riley had told him, and then upstairs, finding it unlocked just as she'd said. It seemed like a quiet, comfy place if you could excuse the lingering aroma from the coffee shop downstairs.

"Hey Riley? Where are-"

"I'm changing, I'll be out in two," she called from somewhere down the hall, so James walked into what served as the living room and sat down on the couch – it was pretty comfy, not something he'd mind sleeping on for the night, not that he really thought she'd object to sharing her bed if it came down to it.

When she finally joined him, her shoulder length dark red hair was pulled back into a loose French braid, and he could see a little more skin then the corduroys and long-sleeved white v-neck allowed before thanks to the pajamas she was wearing.

A Fall Out Boy tanktop with their latest logo was pulled back and ducktailed just so that it exposed a bit of her stomach, enough that she'd made a makeshift crop top out of it, and then she'd paired that with black booty shorts that had the same logo on the bottom corner on the front on them. If she turned around, he figured, they're be writing on the back, there always was with those things.

"Uh." Jesus, Diamond pull yourself together. "Hey there. Haven't seen you around much," he tried and she instantly reacted, giggling and putting a hand on her hip.

"Hm…think I can fix that, James."

Two steps and a twirl later she's in his arms, legs swung over the arm of the couch, her head resting on his shoulder.

"Did you really just-"

She lifted her head, looked at him and gave him a lopsided grin before she leaned in and kissed him, pulling away a few seconds later only to get up and walk back down the hall. Stopping halfway and turning to look at the 6'1 singer, she nodded, "It's only a start, it's been forever since a guy of your level's been up here. And uh, did I mention I don't lock my doors around here? There's no need, except the shop entrance." And then she ducked her head slightly and gave him the best bedroom eyes she could manage, knowing her bangs might ruin the effect.

Watching the realization cross James' face without her having to say anything else is what made her take off for her bedroom, already knowing exactly how the rest of the night was going to play out.

Ten minutes later the door to her bedroom slams shut as James finds himself pressed against it, for as short as the girl is she's consumed with lust, which can sometimes make people do things that are beyond their normal range.

She's on her tiptoes leaning into him, lips against his neck, hands frantically pulling at his shirt, trying to get the buttons undone so she can flip it over his head. A few more minutes like this and she'll let him take over, this isn't the first time she's done this, she just knows what it does to guys when she starts it. Giving up on trying to get his shirt off, she instead slides a hand up under it, racking it back down his chest, her other hand going into his hair as she brings her lips back to his. Although, she's surprised when his hand grabs her wrist to stop her from clawing her way back down his form again – she's felt strong sculpted abs on him and heaven knows she wants more. And with that grab, she knows the tables are turning – and soon enough she's the one against the door, one of his knees between her legs, one hand trying to undo her braid, the other on her side with subtle moans leaving her lips.

When he finally manages to allow her to breath, she's looking up at him, eyes completely clouded over.

"I have a bed you know."

"If you want to stop, you tell me, okay? I don't want anything to-"

She rolled her eyes, putting her hands out against his chest, forcing him to walk backwards until they both tumbled onto her bed, he crawling up to lay down and stretch out, she once against surprising him when she moved to straddle him, rotating her hips against his own as she leaned down and began kissing at his neck again, this time nipping here and there.

"This isn't the first time I've done this, hun, I know how it goes."

If he hadn't picked up the whisper between the kisses he would have thought she had only been mumbling lyrics again, something to spin her own BTR fanfics later on. But no, that was nowhere near her intent.

"But you're just shy of twen- ah – Riley," he groaned, she'd flattened herself against him, one hand at his jeans and bit down slightly harder than she'd been at the same time, inevitably driving James even crazier with lust than the door session had made him.

It had been a long time since he'd be put in this position – Lucy had broken up with him the same day the BTR news broke, and since then he'd just focused on music, really.

"I can't believe a big popstar like you was stupid enough to take my invitation to come up here." She continued, yelping in protest when James scooted her off him so he could actually get his jeans off, realizing she had no intent of stopping with the way things were getting, not noticing she'd pulled off her own shorts at the same time to reveal some form of lacy underwear that clung to her skin in just the way that made James want to shred it to make sure she'd couldn't taunt another guy this way.

"You're pretty, you implied danger outside, and it was free coffee – free alcohol's usually code for 'have sex with me' how am I supposed to say no?" He asked, pulling his shirt off, trying to watch where it landed so he wouldn't be scrambling to find his clothes before she woke up in the morning.

"Hollywood's taught you a lot, hasn't it? I learned some things from Chicago, too. Lay back down and I can show you," she offered, half expecting the noise of approval from the pop star. As soon as he'd laid back down, she'd straddled him again, and this time he too was bent on feeling her - his hands reached for the duck tail, snapping the thin elastic band with ease before he flipped the tank top over her head, revealing a bra that matched in color and lace, another padding had him thinking she was used to seducing guys like she'd implied.

Hell, the lingerie she had on alone probably was worth more than some of his hockey gear.

His hands go up and down her sides, her skin was smooth, and in the darkness of the room he knows she can't have much of a tan thanks to being in the city she's in. A sudden pang of sheer want overcomes him, and his hands slip to her hips, not being careful of his nails, which dig in; in turn causing her to tilt her head back and whine, not expecting him to have gotten sort of rough. Before she can say anything however, one hand is running across her stomach, just allowing his pinkie to drift beneath the lace shielding whatever innocence remains.

"What kind of stuff, hm, Riley?" he teases, voice laced with impatience.

A few shaky breaths and a giggle as she closes her eyes and changes the sway of her hips only slightly, liking the feel of where a few of his fingers are heading a little too much as she answers, "Just things that'll keep me safe; that's all."

"What's that?"

She smiled at this, tilting her hips up and pushing herself a little bit more forward against him so that his ring finger brushed between the lace and her skin, causing a shudder to pass through her.

Leaning down so her lips were next to his ear, she gasped softly as she felt him finally make a move, but regained her train of thought in the next second or so.

"You have to promise to do what I say if I tell you this, okay? It could save your life one day."

"I have to do what you say? That's not fair!"

"Do you want to –mhm- live or –nya- not?"

"Alright, alright, I promise. Happy?"

Her eyes lit up, and James could see there was something different about her now, though he couldn't tell what.

"Good boy, James…alright – so. First thing – yes, the vampires exist. Second – You already know you're hot, and you're my exact type. Third – that stuff I said about salt working on vampires and other creatures? You're right – it's for demons only. And fourth – I've never told any other guy this, but I want you to know."

She titled her head and leaned down to kiss him, once again having one hand go to his hair and the other raining scratches down his chest, smiling through this kiss at the second groan this earned her. Coming up for air, she only offered him a smug half smile.

"Damn it, just tell me. Riley, please…you're killing me, just let me flip you over-"

"Ah ah ah….I don't do bottom, at least until the first part is complete."

"What first part?" he asked; that strange feeling back in the pit of his stomach.

Blinking those icy blue eyes, she leaned in to nuzzle her head into the crook of his neck, laughing softly.

"Oh, Jamesy – those vampires I warned you that were out there? You should left when you had the chance. Because sweetheart – you've let one seduce you."

And before James had time to make sense of anything she had just said, Riley opened her mouth and bit into his neck with half inch fangs, absolutely loving the scream that had left the singer's lips.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, James opened his eyes, surprised at the soft sunlight filtering through half-open blinds.

And then of course, looking down to see head full of dark red hair lying on his chest, one hand draped over him almost protectively.

Sitting up, he automatically ignored the whine from the girl, momentarily wondering why he wasn't in the hotel room.

"Don't move so sudden, it makes me sorer," she complained, following his lead to find their gazes locked, before she leaned in and kissed him, to which James immediately realized why he wasn't at said hotel.

The girl must've invited her back to his place the night before; they must've met in a bar or something.

Yeah, that had to be it.

"Look, last night was fun, but I've really gotta get going, I have to be in Detroit by 3 this afternoon-" he explained, throwing his legs over the side of the bed, not surprised when the girl moved to lean against him, head on his shoulder and slender pale arms wrapping around his torso.

"You're not leaving me, James. Ever."

He turns to her at this, and a borderline psychotic grin is plastered to her face.

"Look, it was a one night stand, okay? I can do that, I'm like you said, a popstar."

She laughed, letting go of him to collapse against the pillows, rolling her eyes.

"More like a one night stand off," she giggled under her breath, faintly James catches the old Fall Out Boy lyric reference before she adds, "Then you'd also remember I told you I was a vampire, literally seconds before I bit you," she replied almost matter-of-factly, winking.

James closed his eyes – there was no way.

"There's no way. You probably just have a fetish for biting, it's a sex kink, they're not uncommon," he brushed it off, stood up, grabbed for the shirt on the dresser.

Riley sat up slightly, lips parted in thought, gaze wandering.

"Alright fine, so maybe that's it. Doesn't explain why you took so quickly to my blood, now does it, honey? I'm gonna have to bandage this wrist if I want to work this week," she teased, holding up her arm, and that's when it hit.

Her forearm, all the way to her elbow was littered with sets of dual puncture wounds, dried blood surrounding them. Instantly James felt for his neck, two fingers gliding into the same marks near his collarbone.

"No…" he turns, shirt half over his head, to look at the mirror above the opposite dresser.

"NO!" He yelps at the greatest complication this whole vampire thing can have – he's got no reflection, and that causes a sudden anger to overtake him – and instead of turning to the girl that's done this to him, he takes two steps and puts his fist straight through the glass, wincing at the shards of glass slicing his hand.

"Stop fighting it already, jesus. You're all the same, my god. The first one was like that too, maybe I should've stayed with him, I'd be the matriarch of that coven by now, if only he'd come and visit…hm."

James snorted in disbelief.

"You've done this before, then? Slept with someone and…turned them into a monster? Just how old are you?"

She giggled.

"Atleast I didn't get a song written about me. And if I told you, you wouldn't believe me. And yes, I've killed others. Turned, I mean. First one to live once I figured out what I was doing, well…have you heard of The Academy Is…? Yeah, the William Beckett that plays a vampire in Fall Out Boy's Sixteen Candles music video? That's not made up. I turned him, nearly three hundred years ago. We were together for a while at least, until he found that bitch of a demon Illshya. It's a long story, I won't bore you with details."

"Good. I don't want to know."

"But back to you, darling. We're bonded by blood now – you've got fangs, my arm proves it. I know it's hard to accept what I've done, but I promise, you'll be better because of it."

"BETTER?! BETTER?!"

Lip curled back into a snarl, he absentmindedly clenches the fist he'd broken the mirror with, and momentarily pain crosses his features as blood drops fall from his hand to the carpet.

At once the redhead is on her feet, waking towards him, shaking her head.

"Poor boy – first day after the change and you've gone and got yourself all bloody…come on, let's bandage that, we don't want your own blood to drive your lust…I'd thought last night's feeding was enough, but – you'd better stay here today, I'll tell my sister she needs to manage shop."

As she walked closer, James backed away, eventually until he was against the door of the bedroom.

"Please, I'm begging you, just tell me this is a bad dream. I'm in my hotel room, the wake up call's set for 8 am…"

The girl bit her lip and shook her head.

"My, reluctant as ever. William wasn't this bad. Seems I'll have to be gentle and take things easy with you."

"Riley."

James is looking right at her, hazel eyes pleading for any answer but the truth he's so desperate to avoid.

"What do you want me to say, James? As long as you calm down, I'll say whatever it takes. Anything to keep you here." Turning to perch on the dresser, she ran a hand through her hair, batting her eyelashes as she went.

"Why me? Of all the other guys in this town, you even said you could go back to the guy you originally turned! Why me?"

She shrugged, smiling.

"Because I wanted to, isn't that enough? Or do you want me to say I was the damsel in distress, just waiting for my knight in shining armor? You couldn't possibly understand what drove me to turn you, it's not worth explaining in the first place. So leave. It. Be."

Her voice had gone quiet; though James could pick up she was hiding something. Without much though, he walks back in front of her, putting the non-cut hand on her shoulder.

"Look – Riley, I get it – it's obvious you're still reeling from the pain your last relationship has caused you, and I know I can't understand what you must've gone through, but I can try to be better than-"

"What I went through?You couldn't begin – I lived in that mansion for years – yearswith him before that demonic bitch came along and took my spot. Than oh, it wasn't even full nights once she came into the picture, two hours in the moonlight in his office and a door slamming somewhere downstairs being my cue to climb out the window. He knew I had a heart to break, not that he cared. I hope those hunters fucking murder him one of these days, I'd enjoy the news. Jerk." She spat, voice laced with venom, icy eyes blazing with cold fire.

"I'll be better than that. I swear."

At his words, she looks at him, and it's almost as if he's forgotten he was even mad in the first place. In front of him is no monster, at least that he can tell – just a girl broken and shattered from true love's betrayal.

Her gaze drifts to his other hand, blood drops still running down his hand here and there. In a moment that he knows she could very easily interpret differently than what he intends, he brings the two most bloodied fingers to her lips and allows them to linger there for a few seconds.

Her eyes widen, and they appear to flicker – is it his imagination, or were they pure black for a millisecond?

Before he realizes what he's done, his index finger is crooked against her lips, the tip up to just past the nail lightly being bitten, his thumb resting against her chin. When her bite increases the pressure, he pulls his hand away and instead leans down, free hand moving into her hair to tilt her head back as he kisses her not quite as gently as he should've.

When he finally pulls away, Riley's legs have hooked around him and they're both breathing hard.

"I think you're right."

Well, after that – after what Riley had done to him, James needed time to cope, well, really he just didn't want to be away from her for whatever reason. The tour he'd been on had been subsequently cancelled, and although it felt weird to not be doing anything, he found he actually enjoyed the downtime. In Riley's case, her sister had moved her old apartment; freeing her up to follow James' lead wherever.

A few years passed by, James actually deciding maybe the sun and sand of LA wasn't the best now that he was a vampire – and remembering the old winter wonderland that had been Minnesota when snow was on the ground, wanted to start looking again, something to move back home to.

He didn't realize moving back home would bring a lot more trouble than it was worth, especially considering who he'd run into.

It was a chilly fall night. Kendall Knight drew the black coat tighter around his svelte yet muscular frame and kept his head down as he walked down the street, his hand resting on the stake in his pocket. His mark was about a hundred yards in front of him and was moving quickly. As he quickened his pace, the creature, obviously knowing that it was being followed, ducked down a side street. Kendall's strong legs pounded on the pavement and his heart beat wildly in his chest. He couldn't let this one get away! Soon, he came to the end of the alleyway, but his mark was nowhere to be found. He cursed his bad luck under his breath.

"Looking for me?" came a feminine voice in his ear as he felt a hand on the back of his neck

Wheeling around, Kendall turned to face her. She was pretty, he would give her that. Tall with sleek brown hair and a body that would drive any man insane with desire. The one thing that stood out though, were her eyes. They say the eyes are the passage to the soul. In the case of vampires however, there was no soul. Nothing behind the eyes. Just the predatory stare that would make most people flee. But Kendall Knight was no ordinary human. He was the son of two well renowned vampire hunters, and they had passed their legacy onto him.

"I must admit, I'm impressed. No normal human could keep up with me as well as you did. What's your secret?" the woman asked as she stepped closer to Kendall and ran her hands down his chest

Kendall leaned in closer to the woman, his lips ghosting over her ear.

"If I tell you, I'll have to kill you."

He wrapped his arm around the woman's torso and held her in place with one arm while the other retrieved the stake from his pocket and brutally thrust it into her chest in the space between her breasts where her heart was. She clenched his arm as her face contorted into a snarl. Her body disintegrated into dust, leaving behind only a ruby necklace. Kendall picked up the necklace and put it into his pocket. He turned around and walked back out of the alley. He walked back to the apartment that he shared with his younger sister Katie. He put his coat on the hook and took his shoes off by the door.

"Hey. Get anything good tonight?" Katie asked as she got up from the couch

"I got the one I've been following for almost three days now," Kendall replied, a triumphant smile on his face as he showed her the necklace.

"All right! Another one bites the dust!" Katie said, pumping her fist into the air

Kendall had to laugh. Even though she was 16, she somehow still maintained her childlike innocence.

"While I appreciate you waiting up for me, you really shouldn't have. Don't forget, you have school in the morning," Kendall reminded his sister.

Katie rolled her eyes.

"Please, it's so boring at school! I mean, I'm already taking all of my senior classes as a sophomore. I think I can afford to stay up late."

"That might be true, but you still need your sleep. Now off to bed, little sister," Kendall replied, ruffling her hair like he used to do when they were kids.

Katie smiled and turned to walk down the hallway to where her bedroom was. Once she closed the door, Kendall collapsed onto the couch with a sigh. Tracking that vampire for almost three nights straight had taken its toll on him. Curling up on the couch, he allowed himself to rest. Before he closed his eyes, his gaze fell on a picture that he had hanging on the wall. It was a picture of him and his best friends James, Logan, and Carlos, taken five years ago when they had still been a band. He sighed internally. Although being a vampire hunter kept him busy, he often wondered about his friends. It had been years since he had heard from them.

"Whatever they're doing, I hope they're okay," he muttered to himself, reaching to turn off the light.


	3. Chapter 3

The bedside alarm clock rang precisely at 6:00 a.m. Logan Mitchell reached a hand out and shut it off. Rolling over, he expected to feel the warm body of his girlfriend laying next to him, but to his surprise, there was nothing there. Rubbing his eyes and sitting up, he stretched and got out of bed. Pulling a shirt on over his boxers, he padded softly to the kitchen. Not surprisingly, Camille was already awake. She was standing near the stove, flicking her wand every so often. Ingredients came zooming out of the cabinets and magically added themselves to the pan on the stove. Logan came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Someone's up early," he murmured into her ear and she laughed.

"Of course I'm up early. I wanted to do something special so I decided to make us breakfast."

"You know, if you really wanted to do something special, you could stay home with me all day instead of going to work," Logan replied, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.

Camille smiled but shook her head.

"I can't do that. They need me at the clinic today. Plus, it's my long day so I won't be home until late. That's why I wanted to make us breakfast. Now go sit down, it's almost ready," she said, swatting his hands away.

With a slight smirk, Logan went and sat down at the kitchen table. Camille finished up cooking and then summoned a table setting for the two of them. Using magic, she served both of them breakfast. She had made scrambled eggs with bacon, fresh fruit, and toast. As the both of them ate their breakfast, they discussed their plans for the day.

"So since I'm going to be at the clinic all day, what do you have planned today, mister?" Camille asked, looking at Logan

He shrugged.

"Lucian said he had something for me to work on, so I'm going to swing by the den for a little while, see what's up. After that, I guess I'll come home and wait for you by the door."

Camille laughed. "Are you a werewolf or a dog?"

"Well, considering dogs can trace their roots back to wolves, can you really blame me?"

Camille just shook her head, but her smile showed her amusement.

They finished the rest of their breakfast in silence, with Logan stealing small glances at Camille when he thought she wasn't looking. He still couldn't believe that he was lucky enough to be with a girl like her. She had calmed down considerably since their days at the Palm Woods. Oh, the Palm Woods. Thinking back, Logan thought of his friends. It had been at least five years since they had gone their separate ways and he hadn't really heard much from them since. Five years ago, he had decided to return to his old pack, having grown tired of Los Angeles. He longed to be able to run through the forests without a care in the world, and so he moved back to England. His friends, however, didn't know that he was a werewolf, so he had made up some excuse about being accepted into medical school in England and after that, he left for England, bringing Camille with him.

It made him sad, to say the least, being separated from his friends. He hoped that everyone was doing all right. He was so lost in thought that he didn't realize that Camille had cleared away the breakfast dishes and was standing next to him. When she placed her hand on his shoulder, he inadvertently flinched and growled at her.

"Hey, it's just me. Are you okay?" she asked

"Yeah. I'm sorry about that. I was just lost in thought, I about the guys and how much I miss them."

"I know what you mean. I miss them too. Don't worry though, I'm sure we'll see them again some day."

Little the did the both of them know that Camille's prediction would come true sooner than they thought. With that, Camille gave Logan a kiss and Apparated out of the apartment with a tiny pop. Logan took a minute to compose himself before getting dressed and setting off towards the den as the sun began to rise in the sky.

It took him a few minutes to get to the werewolf den. It was located just outside of a small forest. Logan had found this particular pack after the female werewolf who had turned him had been killed trying to defend the both of them from vampires. To this day, Logan was still wary of any vampires he came across.

Once inside the compound, Logan managed to find Lucian, the leader of the pack. Lucian gave him several jobs, most of which required physical labor. Logan didn't mind however. It was nice to be among his own kind for a while. Once he had completed all of the jobs, he returned back to Lucian before getting ready to leave at the end of the day. He knocked on Lucian's office door and was bade entrance from within. Logan stepped into the office and took in all of the furnishings, both ornate and at the same time, simple. It reminded him a lot of Minnesota.

"Logan, my boy. Please, do sit down," said the Lycan leader, gesturing to an empty seat across from his desk.

Logan sat down and Lucian poured him a small glass of whisky. Though alcohol didn't really affect werewolves, Logan still accepted the drink nonetheless.

"You said there was something you wanted to talk to me about?" Logan asked, setting his drink down

"Yes. I want to know if you can feel it," Lucian replied.

"I'm sorry? I don't understand," Logan said, puzzled.

"I want to know if you can feel it. The uneasiness in the air, like there is something at the fringes of our world, just waiting for the opportune moment to attack. Something bad."

Logan thought back. It was true, he had been feeling slightly more on edge lately, and not just when the moon was full. That would have explained his extreme reaction when Camille touched him on the shoulder this morning.

"Come to think of it, yes. I have been feeling more nervous and on edge lately. Why? What does it mean?" Logan asked

Lucian took a deep breath before answering.

"Well my boy, to tell you the truth, I'm not sure. I have been alive almost 800 years and I have never felt anything like this before. Whatever is out there, it is not good. If I were you, I would take extra precaution and be careful when talking to strangers. You never know who you can trust these days. Do you understand?"

Logan nodded.

"Good. That is all. You are dismissed, but don't hesitate to call me if you need any assistance," Lucian said, standing up to see Logan out.

Logan shook the Lycan leader's outstretched hand and began the walk home. The sun had just began to set. His watch read just after 6 p.m. As a cold wind blew, he shivered and increased his pace. This was the one time when he hoped Lucian was wrong.

After leaving Logan at home, Camille had apparated to the clinic where she worked as a healer. As a witch, she had been educated at one of the premier institutes in Europe and only moved back to the United States as a teenager. In favor of trying something different, she aspired to be an actress, which led her to California and eventually, to Logan. The two of them had gone through a lot together in the last five years.

As much as she loved California, it felt good to be back in the place where she had spent a majority of her formative years. As a healer, she enjoyed helping people. The clinic served a variety of patients of all kinds, both magical and nonmagical. Most times, it was nothing serious, but they got the occasional limb that had been spliced while apparating or something exciting like that. Today had been a relatively slow day, so when her shift finally ended around 10:00 p.m., she was more than grateful. As Camille and another healer worked to close up the clinic, there came a pounding on the door.

Camille and the other healer looked at one another. They weren't expecting anyone at this late hour. Just in case, both of them held their wands out. The pounding came again, louder this time. Cautiously, Camille opened the door.

On the other side of the door was a girl, but she was not human. She had pale blue skin and dark blue hair that was styled in a pixie cut. Along her arms were tattoos of vines and she had on a green t shirt and blue jeans. Her face was ashen and pale, making her pointed ears all the more obvious. She was a faerie.

There were several bloody wounds on her torso. She stumbled over the threshold and fell. Luckily, Camille grabbed her before she could hit the ground. She summoned some pillows and laid the girl down. The other healer closed the door as Camille began to assess her injuries.

"Hey, can you hear me? What's your name?" Camille asked

"T-Taelia. Taelia Rose."

"Okay Taelia, can you tell me what happened?"

"I-I was walking around the city, and someone shot me. I think the bullets must have been made of iron. Please, help me," the girl replied, her voice weak.

"Just hold still. I need to get the bullets out," Camille instructed.

Using magic, she removed the bullets from the girl's body as the other healer gave her some potions to reduce the pain. Almost instantly, the girl began to look better. Her skin began to turn from a pale white back to a periwinkle blue. Camille helped the girl to sit up.

"So Taelia, do you have any idea of who would want to hurt you?"

"I'm not sure. It was dark and I couldn't see anything."

"Well, it's a good thing you made it here in time. If you're feeling okay, you can go," Camille said, standing up.

Taelia stood up slowly but stared at the ground.

"What's wrong?"

"Well, you see, I don't really have a place to go. I was supposed to meet up with a friend, but they weren't ready for me yet, so I don't have anywhere to go tonight," she replied, looking sad.

Even though Camille knew that dealing with faeries could be dangerous, she decided that this girl seemed harmless.

"You know what? My boyfriend and I have a couch that you can sleep on for the night. Why don't you come back with me for tonight and then you can meet up with your friend tomorrow?" Camille suggested

At once, Taelia's face lit up!

"Really? I can come with? You're sure you don't mind?" Taelia asked

"Not at all. Besides, it's really storming outside now and I'd hate to leave you out in the rain. My name is Camille, by the way. Camille Roberts. And my boyfriend's name is Logan Mitchell"

"Well, thank you for your hospitality, Camille. And thank you for saving my life!"

"It's no problem, really. Now, hang on to my arm and don't let go, okay?" Camille asked

Taelia nodded and grabbed onto Camille's arm. The two of them apparated back to Camille's flat.

The moment that the two of them apparated into the flat, Logan walked into the kitchen to meet Camille.

"Hey honey, how was work?" Logan said, walking into the kitchen

When he saw the girl standing next to Camille, he immediately assumed a defensive position and bared his teeth.

"Camille, is there any particular reason you brought a FAERIE into our home?" Logan demanded, eyeing the girl suspiciously

"Logan, relax. Her name is Taelia. She was a patient at the clinic tonight and she had nowhere else to go. Plus, it's raining and I didn't want to just leave her. She's only staying the night, so she'll be gone in the morning," Camille explained as she walked over to Logan and kissed him.

"Yeah, she better be," he muttered just loud enough so that Camille would hear him. She smacked his chest.

"Stop it. You're being rude! Taelia, I'll be right back. I just need to set up your bed," Camille said as she walked out of the room.

Once Camille had walked out of the room, Logan quickly crossed the room and stood in front of Taelia.

"I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but I'll be damned if I let one of the Fair Folk stay in my house!" Logan growled, his voice low

Taelia laughed in his face.

"I don't think that you would be so quick to judge, Mr. Mitchell, if you knew what I was going to tell you."

Logan was slightly taken aback. How did she know his name?

"If you're wondering how I knew your name, your girlfriend told me. Anyway, it was no coincidence that I ended up at that clinic. No, I sought you out because I have a message, just for you. There is a war coming, Mr. Mitchell, and you had better be prepared."

"A war? Is that a threat?" Logan asked, his voice deadly

"Oh, it's no threat, Mr. Mitchell. There is something coming, something evil, and when it shows up, you had better be prepared."

"I see no reason to trust you or anything you say," Logan scoffed.

"Well, you really ought to, you know. Besides, as you said yourself, I am a member of the Fair Folk and the Fair Folk cannot lie," Taelia replied with a smirk

Before Logan could say anything else, Camille had walked back into the room. She showed Taelia where she would be sleeping while Logan stalked off back to their bedroom. He changed into pajamas and crawled into bed. A short while later, Camille came in, changed, and laid down next to him.

"Hey, you okay? You seem like something's bothering you," she observed.

"Nah, it's nothing. I just have a lot on my mind," he replied.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, not right now."

"Okay, well if you change your mind, I'm here. Goodnight, Logan," Camille said as she snuggled into his chest. He automatically began to run his fingers through her hair, and in a few moments, he heard her breathing slow down and he knew she was asleep.

He could only hope that things weren't going to be as bad as he was imagining.


	4. Chapter 4

As soon as Camille had said goodnight to Taelia and headed off down the hall to her and Logan's room, the faerie took out her cell phone, not surprised at the new text.

'Tell me you're not dead yet, you've GOT to hear my news.'

Softly laughing at the almost command from the redheaded vampire she'd known for the past hundred years or so, she opened her keyboard and texted a reply.

'Almost got myself killed yesterday, some idiot with iron rod bullets - luckily found the clinic. so - news?'

Two minutes later the phone rang.

"I know it's been a few years, but I think I've hit the jackpot. So I got another one."

"You really think you can get back at-"

"With this one? Sure of it. Looks way better, I'll say that much. Broke a mirror after he figured out what I'd done, ended that morning in typical fashion," Riley replied, and Taelia could practically hear the grin in her voice.

"Meaning you fell down the stairs, right? You know how you lose the ability to walk," the faerie teased before her friend giggled.

"Well duh. But then...well, you know how things are going. I think I'm gonna keep this one for a while. He already seems attached, can't see him replacing me as easily as William did with that bitch. He's a psychokinetic, found that out when he sang me to sleep without moving his mouth. And get this - remember that boyband called Big Time Rush?"

"You didn't. Tell me you weren't that stupid."

"Not caterpillar eyebrows, or the nerd. Or the Hispanic for that matter. Went for the face, the really pretty one - you better believe me, he's sure easy on the eyes but sure as hell ain't easy on you in the bedr-"

"Riley. Seriously. I'm trying to sleep, I don't need you jammering on about your new catch's abilities, supernatural or not."

"Hey, atleast I gave you a warning."

"Did not."

"So do you have any idea who's after you? Iron rods - sounds like hunters, not that I'd know how to deal with them."

"Most likely - but who took me in today? At the clinic, I found a healer, she invited me back to her house to get a better look at me, and well - you just mentioned Big Time Rush. The man that this healer is with? The nerdy one, Logan. They're asleep down the hall, I'm in their living room."

Riley smiled even though she knew Taelia couldn't see it.

"You know you just want to start something. You could just-"

"No. I'm not like you, I'm not just going to kill the girl, we have plans for them, remember? We need the four of them together, and if I can gain the healer's trust, it'll all come together."

"I didn't kill anyone, just really want to rip that bitch's throat out for taking my William, that's all. But she's great great grandma's little angel, oh, she can do no wrong. I'd gladly get exiled from ever visiting Lillith if it meant killing her - you know she's got to have a new meatsuit by now."

"You demons don't let grudges go, do you? You're not even a full blooded demon, Riley. Let it go."

"Let it go! Let it go! Can't hold it back anymo-"

*CLICK*

Taelia's end of the line was silent, the faerie had hung up on her without hesitation.

As she closed her eyes, she couldn't help thinking about what Riley had said.

She'd found a new guy, and she'd been with him for some time - to think she was keeping him around slightly scared Taelia, normally the vampire never spoke of serious relationships, not since William- that was it, maybe that pain had finally subsided and she was calming down. But then the talk of killing Illshya's new form came up, and any hope of that went away in Taelia's mind.

Pulling the blanket tighter around her, Taelia smiled as she drifted off. This plan was all going to come together soon enough.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Riley and James' apartment, Riley stared at her phone, dumbstruck before she felt him turn over and slip and arm around her, trying to pull her back down to bed.

"Riley, c'mon, bed. I have no clue who you were talking to but the fact you started singing that stupid song from Frozen is enough to make me think I'm not the only one that's a little bit outside-world-deprived," James explained with a tired laugh, satisfied when the redhead tossed her phone to the dresser (where it landed on top of clothes that still needed to be put away) and curled into him.

"Huh. But she actually hung up on me this time."

"Who?"

She smiled, lifting her head so hazel eyes met ice blue before her yawn interrupted whatever she was going to say.

"One of my friends from England, y'know. Timezones. Must've annoyed her with that stupid song like you were saying. I mean, you could sing anything and it wouldn't sound stupid, but sti-"

He sighed, far too used to her routine by now - her way of mentioning him singing anything was her way of asking for a lullaby.

"Sleep. I'll sing, but you need to lay still; both your body and mind - your mind's running a mile a minute about something, I can tell." He added after she huffed, her legs finally becoming tangled enough with his so she was comfy.

As soon as she'd settled and closed her eyes, James ran a hand through her hair and closed his own, the words from one of the first Big Time Rush songs to be recorded for the debut CD running around his head.

"Wait a minute - before you tell me anything, how was your day?

Cause I've been missing You by my side, yeah

Did I awake you out of your dreams? I'm sorry but I couldn't sleep

You calm me down There's something 'bout the sound of your voice

I-I-I-I'm never never Never as far away as it may seem, oh

Soon we'll be together We'll pick up right where we left off

Paris, London, Tokyo There's just one thing that I gotta do

(Hello, tuck you in every night on the phone) (Hello, tuck you in every night)

And I can hardly take another goodbye, Baby, won't be long - You're the one that I'm waiting on,"

By the time he'd hit halfway through the first chorus, her breathing had evened out completely and she'd turned into dead weight; and the words died on his lips as the both of them fell asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

After the band had split up, Carlos had decided to take some time off and spend time with his relatives in Mexico. He had planned to stay there for 5 weeks and then return to Los Angeles. That five weeks, however, soon turned into five years. It was difficult at first, since it had been a long time since he had seen any of his relatives much less spoken Spanish. He quickly adapted to the culture however. He was currently staying in a small village with his maternal grandmother and several of his other relatives. Things here seemed to move at a slower pace than they did back in the States and Carlos was happy to

spend his days helping with work on the farm before retiring under a tree to take a nice siesta.

Every now and then, though, he wondered how his friends were doing. Aside from a few sporadic emails from Logan and Kendall, there was nothing. He actually really missed his friends. Lately, he had been feeling kind of strange. His head always seemed to hurt and no matter how many times he visited the curandero down the street, nothing seemed to be able to get rid of his headache. He had also been having very strange dreams lately, dreams that were full of violence and darkness. He didn't tell anyone, though, because he didn't want his family to worry. On this particular day, however, he could tell that something was different.

At first, he went about his business as usual. He helped his cousins on the farm and settled under the shade of a tree for a midafternoon siesta. He quickly fell asleep and began dreaming. Like his other dreams, this one was dark and full of chaos. He was in a city, he could see that. It almost felt like he was back in Minnesota, but people were running and screaming everywhere as fire rained down from the sky. Suddenly, from the alleyway, he heard the sound of shouting. When he walked down the narrow alley, he could see three people in the alley. He was surprised to see that they were his friends, Kendall, James, and Logan. Kendall and James were arguing and Kendall kept swinging a pointed wooden stick at James and Logan was trying to break the two apart. Without thinking, Carlos found himself running at his friends and shouting for them to stop fighting. All of the sudden however, he was jerked out of his dream by his grandmother, who was standing over him, shaking him by the shoulders.

It took a moment before his eyes adjusted to the scene in front of him. His grandmother was kneeling before him, shaking him by the shoulder while muttering a prayer and saying something about "el diablo." The rest of his family was standing around him with concerned looks on their faces. He sat up and looked at his family.

"¿Cómo te sientes?" asked one of his tias

"Bien", he replied, looking at the ground.

"Tú estabas gritando. ¿Estás seguro que te sientas bien?"

"Fue un sueño malo. Nada más," he said, standing up.

After that, the family gathered for a large dinner as the sun set in the sky. Carlos, however, was not hungry. He merely picked at his food and refused to talk to anyone. Once the dishes had been cleared from the table, Carlos immediately went into his room, ignoring his family's shouts for him to join them in singing corridos and dancing. He just couldn't stop thinking about the dream he had had. It had seemed so real, like everything he saw was going to happen. He thought about his friends. He wondered how things were going. He was so preoccupied by his thoughts that he barely noticed himself drifting off to sleep.

He found himself in the same city as his previous dream. Again, the scene was chaotic and Carlos could sense an evil presence. It was almost stifling, like he could feel some kind of dark force corrupting everything around him. It really scared him.

The more he looked around at the desolate city, the more he realized that the city was familiar. He knew exactly where he was. As he looked to his left, he saw the theater where everyone had auditioned prior to being in Big Time Rush. It was a place filled with mostly good memories, which was why Carlos was shocked to see the building was entirely gutted. Windows were smashed and the walls were covered in grafitti. As Carlos walked farther through the deserted city, he felt the evil presence grow stronger. Soon, he came to the center of the city and he heard a voice talking to him. The voice had an ethereal quality to it yet it seemed familiar.

"This is a vision of what your world will be like if you do not stop it."

"What? Who are you?" Carlos asked. There was absolutely no one on the street.

"If you do not destroy it, your world will become a fiery wasteland. You must stop it."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Stop what?"

"Chaos is coming, and you must be prepared. Find your friends, for they alone can help you. Be wary, though. Before you can defeat the outside chaos, you must first deal with the chaos within. Awaken now and begin your journey."

Before Carlos could say anything else, he was brutally thrust into consciousness. He sat up, gasping for breath. He had absolutely no idea what that dream had meant, but he knew there was no way that he would be able to sleep after that.

Instead, he got up out of bed and walked to the kitchen. He sat down at the kitchen table and put his head in his hands, trying to figure out just what that voice had meant. He was so lost in thought that he didn't hear his grandmother come up behind him. She laid a hand on his shoulder and asked, "¿Qué pasa, mijo?"

Carlos jumped about a foot in the air. He turned to face his grandmother. His eyes were cast downward as he replied "Un sueño malo, otra vez."

His grandmother began to make tea for the two of them. Once it was finished, she set the cup in front of him.

"Díme," she said, gesturing for him to drink the tea.

Carlos took a drink of the tea and began to explain about the strange dreams that had been plaguing him for the last few weeks along with the constant headaches. His grandmother listened to him, nodding occasionally. Once Carlos had finished, she took a drink of her tea and looked at him.

"Este es algo que se llama El Ojo."

She went on to explain that psychic powers were not uncommon in their family and that one of the most prominent powers was that of precognition, or the ability to see the future. The visions of the future usually came in the form of dreams and sometimes in dreams, they were spoken to by what was assumed to be angels, telling them of the future.

She also told him that if it was indeed an angel that had spoken to him, that he needed to do what the voice told him. He explained that the voice had told him to find his friends. His grandmother agreed that that was what he should do. When he questioned what he would tell the rest of the family, his grandmother waved her hands in dismissal. Instead, she asked where he needed to go. He told her that he needed to find his friend Logan, who lived in England.

She nodded and went into her room. When she came back, she handed Carlos a handful of pesos and told him to go pack his bags. When Carlos protested that he couldn't take the money, his grandmother gave him a look and Carlos hastily shoved the money in his pocket.

He walked into his room and found the suitcase he had used when he first arrived in Mexico almost five years ago. He began to pack clothes and other essentials for his trip to England. The whole endeavour took about 15 minutes. When he was done, he walked back out into the living room, where his grandmother was waiting with one of his cousins. She explained that his cousin would accompany him to the airport and then he would be on his own. Carlos gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek and thanked her for everything. His grandmother smiled a sad smile.

"Compórtate bien, mijo," she said as he walked out of the room.

"Por supuesto, abuelita," Carlos replied as he followed his cousin out of the room. His cousin helped him to load his bag into the car and they began the five hour drive to the airport. The sun was just starting to rise in the sky. Carlos tried to sleep, but he couldn't.

Eventually, they made it to the airport. It was a tiny little airport, nothing like the huge airports that he had flown in and out of when he was in Big Time Rush. His cousin dropped him off at the door, wished him luck, and drove off again in the car. Carlos collected his bag and went inside the airport. He walked up to the counter and purchased a ticket for a plane departing later that afternoon. Now all he had to do was think. He had no idea where Logan lived. All he knew was that he lived in London, England. He could vaguely remember Logan telling him once where he lived in London, but that had been a long time ago.

In order to make his thinking process easier, Carlos dug through his bag and took something out. It was his old lucky hockey helmet. He hadn't worn it in years, but it still fit. He placed it on his head and tried to think. When he put it on his head though, he noticed that something didn't feel right. It felt like there was something stuck in it. He took the helmet off of his head and examined the inside. Stuck inside was a piece of paper folded up. He unfolded the paper and he began to grin. Since he didn't get good enough cell phone reception in the small village where his grandmother lived, he had taken to sending letters back and forth to Logan. This letter was still in its envelope and thankfully had Logan's address on it! Now things didn't seem too bad.

After waiting for many hours, it was finally time for Carlos to board his plane. He got through customs quickly seeing as the airport was not very busy. Then he boarded a small plane and settled in for the flight. Almost 11 hours later, he landed in England. It was almost 5 in the morning, but Carlos didn't care. He got through customs, exchanged his money, collected his bag and set off. He was actually excited to see his friend again! He hailed a cab and settled in again as the driver drove to the address that Carlos provided.


	6. Chapter 6

The moment that the first streaks of daylight began to color the sky, Taelia woke up. While she was grateful for Camille's hospitality, she thought it would be in her best interest if she left before the Lycan woke up. She folded up the blankets, scrawled a note on a piece of paper and she walked out the door, not bothering to lock it behind her. She began walking down the street. Eventually she came to a forest. Being a faerie, she had an innate connection with nature. She walked through the trees,eventually finding the shimmer that indicated the presence of faerie magic. She stepped through the barrier and was instantly transported to a sanctuary. It was here that her master slept.

The farther she walked into the darkened sanctuary, the colder it got. She shivered but she pressed onward. Eventually she came to a room that was darker than all of the others. There was no trace of light at all and Taelia could not see a thing. It was in this room that her master resided.

"Is it done? Have they been informed?" came a voice that seemed to emanate from the darkness

It sounded like the embodiment of pure evil.

"Yes master, they have been warned," Taelia replied, dropping to one knee.

"Very good, my child. Rest easy now. The plan shall be fulfilled."

Taelia shivered as she made her way to her quarters.

Meanwhile, as the sun began to rise, Logan was restless. He hadn't slept very well knowing that there was a faerie in his house. Just as he was beginning to fall asleep, he heard the sound of the front door of the house being opened. Immediately, he bolted upward. Next to him, Camille stirred.

"Logan, is something wrong?" she asked

"Camille, I need to you stay here. I think there's someone in the house."

Before Camille could react, Logan was already sneaking quietly out of the room. As he made his way into the living room, he saw a shadow move across the room. He raced across the room and pinned the figure to the wall, his forearm against his throat.

"Whoever you are, you had better give me a damn good reason not to kill you right now," Logan said, baring his teeth threateningly.

The nails on his right hand lengthened into claws and he held it in front of the stranger's face.

"L-L-Logan, it's m-m-me. It's C-C-Carlos!" the stranger choked out.

As soon as the stranger spoke, Logan recognized the voice of his friend, as well as his scent. He released his grip on Carlos who fell to the ground, coughing and gasping for breath. Logan knelt down in front of him.

"Carlos?" he asked

Carlos looked up at him and grinned. Logan was temporarily stunned. The last time he had heard from Carlos had been more than a year ago. What was he doing in London now? And why didn't he tell him he was coming?

Logan was pulled out of his thoughts by Camille, who flicked on the light in the living room.

"Carlos?" she said, confused

"Hey Camille," Carlos replied.

"What are you doing here?" she asked

"I need your help with something."

Camille nodded. "I'll go start making breakfast."

"And I'll go put a shirt on," Logan said as he stood up and helped Carlos to his feet.

He ushered Carlos into the kitchen with Camille and raced off to his room. Picking up a slightly crumpled t-shirt from the night before, he threw it on and walked back out. As he made his way into the kitchen, he noticed a piece of paper sitting on top of the pile of blankets that was neatly folded at the end of the couch. He read it and he breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad to have the faerie gone.

"Looks like your new faerie friend ducked out in the middle of the night. Good, I'm glad she's gone," Logan said as he walked into the kitchen.

"Oh Logan, will you stop? I was being a nice person. Anyway, I hope she's okay," Camille replied, flicking her wand and sending ingredients zooming around the kitchen. Carlos was staring, amazed.

"Woah Camille, you're a witch?" he asked in awe

"Of course. You don't think I got all of those acting roles on pure talent alone, do you?" she replied with a wink as she continued to prepare breakfast. She handed Logan a cup of coffee and offered one to Carlos who politely declined.

"So Carlos, what brings you to England? I mean, it's been months since I last talked to you," Logan said.

"Well, as you know, I've been living with my grandma in Mexico for the last five years and for the past few weeks, I've been having these awful headaches and these really weird dreams. Well last night, I had a dream that you, me, James, and Kendall were all back in Minnesota, except it wasn't the Minnesota that we knew. It was all dark and decrepit and everything was destroyed. First I saw you, James, and Kendall, and everyone was fighting. I tried to stop it, but then I woke up. When I went back to sleep last night, I was back in Minnesota, just walking through the ruined city. I heard this voice talking to me. It was telling me that this is what the world would be like if we don't stop whatever is going to try and destroy the world. Then it said that I needed to find you guys, but before we could fight whatever was coming, we had to deal with some internal conflict first. And the weirdest thing of all was just the overwhelmingly dark presence that I felt in my dreams. Like this was seriously evil. So then I left Mexico and came here to find you. Oh yeah, and my grandma told me that I've basically psychic. So what's new with you guys?" Carlos finished as he began to dig into the plate of food that Camille had set in front of him

A chill had settled into Logan's bones. He had heard of people having precognitive dreams before, but nothing like this. And when Carlos had mentioned the feeling of pure evil, that was the same thing that Logan had been discussing with Lucian the other day. Logan almost couldn't believe it. First Lucian warns him to watch his back, then a faerie shows up and tells him a war is coming, and now Carlos was here. It was almost too much. He was so lost in his thoughts again that he didn't even notice Carlos who was waving his hands in front of his face.

"Hello? Earth to Logan!" Carlos exclaimed, snapping his fingers in front of Logan's face.

Logan snapped to attention.

"Sorry, what were you saying?" he asked

"I was asking what's new with you and Camille since you moved to England."

"Well, if I'm going to tell you that, I guess I had better tell you why I came to England in the first place," Logan started.

"Oh, I know. You came here because you got that really sweet scholarship to study medicine!" Carlos said, his mouth full of food.

Logan glanced at Camille, who interlaced her fingers with his and gave him a slight smile.

"Actually Carlos, that's not the truth. The real reason that I came back to England was so that I could reconnect with my pack. I'm really actually a werewolf, and I have been for the last 200 years," Logan explained.

Carlos paused with his fork halfway up to his mouth. Logan waited for his reaction.

"Makes sense," Carlos said, shrugging.

Logan was dumbfounded.

"Wait, what do you mean, makes sense? I just told you that I am a werewolf, something that should not exist and all you can say is 'makes sense?!" Logan asked incredulously

"Well sure. Think about it, Logan. You always got sick every time there was a full moon, and sometimes, I heard you sneaking out of our room on the nights that you were supposedly sick, so I mean, I just assumed…" Carlos said, his voice trailing off.

Logan put his head in his hands. "I don't believe it. Most people would just assume that I was sick. YOU however, automatically assume I'm a werewolf. Good grief" he muttered.

Once everyone had finished eating and Camille had cleared the breakfast dishes away, the three of them retired to the living room to keep talking.

"So Carlos, this dream that you had, you think that it'll actually happen?" Camille asked

"Oh, I don't just think. I know it'll happen. Like remember how you get that feeling in the pit of your stomach when you know something's going to happen? It's kind of like that," Carlos explained.

"Okay so if it's going to happen, what do you think we should do?" Logan asked

"Well, the voice in my dream told me that I needed to find my friends, and since I already found you and Camille, I think we need to go find James and Kendall."

"Are you sure? It's been years since we've heard from them. How would we even know where to look?"

"Well, we know that Kendall is still in Minnesota. I got a birthday card from him and Katie a few months ago. As for James, I have no idea where he is. I know he did a solo tour, but after that, it was like he dropped off of the face of the earth. So how are we going to find him?" Logan wondered

Carlos yawned. "I have no idea but man, am I tired. You mind if I take a nap on the couch?"

"No, go right ahead. Here are some blankets," Camille said, handing him the folded up blankets.

Carlos laid down and within minutes, he was snoring. Logan was staring out the window.

"You okay, Logan?" Camille asked, putting her head on his shoulder

"No, I'm not. I just can't believe all this is happening. Life is just really strange sometimes, you know?"

"I know what you mean. I wouldn't have it any other way, though," Camille replied, giving him a kiss on the cheek.


	7. Chapter 7

"Well, you already know about the fight I got into with the iron poisoning. Asides from that, not much, just figured I'd stop by. Actually meet the new kid, you know? Since you haven't shut up about him."

Riley smiled, "Guess I haven't, have I? Anyways – James, this is Taelia, the friend I've called a couple times really late at night – usually because she's in England. Taelia, this is my boyfriend, James. We good now?"

The faerie laughed.

"But no, really. I came here to warn you. Like I told the rest – you know we're in danger; the end of the world is coming." She continued, dead serious.

"So? It's not like season 4 supernatural end of the world, right? Like apocalypse kinda thing?"

"Worse."

"What could be worse than Lucifer getting free? I mean, if demons existed, which clearly some do because that bitch is still alive-"

Taelia shrugged.

James, meanwhile, had been watching the two like a dog watching a tennis game, looking at Riley, then Taelia, then back to Riley.

"So this end of the world, we're involved how?"

"It's supernatural creature related – vampires, werewolves, ghosts – they're all in trouble. Whatever the bad guy is in this, it's bbbaaadddd. Worse than your little demonic obsession, or so whispers have said. Just imagine worse than the demoness of hell, that's all I'm saying."

"Why are we in trouble though? I don't get it."

"You silly little newborn," Taelia said sympathically, "Whatever wants to rule the world to end it wants to kill everything, human or not, plain and simple."

James shut up and sat down on the couch, mildly disturbed by the tone of voice she was using.

"Can you not talk to him like that? That's how William used to talk to me, if anything it's-"

"Jogging your memory? Good. Maybe you can finally let it go. What's it with you and not moving on, huh? Accept that you've got James now, let go of William and your grudge against Illshya. For the sake of saving the world because you'll get killed if you're not focused on stopping the end of it."

"That's what I've been trying to tell her, Taelia, but she won't listen. See? Even she thinks it's pointless that you hold onto your past like that." James added, running a hand through his hair as he motioned for Riley to come sit by him.

"It's not pointless – it's the only thing left of my humanity I have. Holding onto my past, revenge, anger – human emotions help keep me grounded! 'Course, a faerie like you wouldn't understand that, you just magic people into shit you want."

"Oh, don't be like that. You had a choice to become what you are, I didn't ask to be what I am, believe me."

That did it.

Without even turning to her, Riley growled.

"Had a choice? Had a choice? I DID NOT! You think being what you are is so special, YOU DON'T HAVE TO KILL PEOPLE TO STAY ALIVE!"

Closing her eyes and sighing, Riley immediately regretted blowing up.

"I've killed people, I just haven't told you, I didn't want to scare you away. What you don't know can't hurt you."

"Didn't want to scare me? Like I would've cared. I'll show you scaring away, promise. Come on, let's see it."

"What?" Taelia challenged, voice turning venomous at the sudden turn in conversation – to think she'd only came to remind Riley of her place in the plan only to have this happen – to top it all off with James watching.

"Faerie magic. You can't kill me. Show me what you got!"

James stood up, walked over to Riley, setting a hand on her shoulder.

"You don't want to do this, Riley. She's a friend, not an enemy. You don't want to change that." He murmured as soon as she'd turned to look at him, eyes blazing.

"He's got a point, you know. I wouldn't want to be forced to hurt you if it came to that."

"Just shut up already!"

Taelia smiled, watching the change from mild mannered would be human to practiced vampires overtake Riley, as her eyes turned black with negative emotion and her nails elongated into claws before she ran at her, tackling her to the ground.

Before Riley could throw the first punch however, Taelia muttered something under her breath and the other girl's hand fell to her side, all intention of landing a hit taken away.

Pushing Riley off of her, Taelia grinned, sitting up and point blank slapped her across the face as hard as she could, grinning as Riley gave a sharp cry and fell back so she was flat on her back, hand held to the still stinging cheek.

At that exact moment, the light fixture above the table began to swing as if blown by a strong wind, and the light bulb in the center of it went dark with a sudden pop of its glass breaking. Without turning her head to look at James, Taelia smiled.

"You weren't kidding. Wish you would have stayed with Beckett though, seems like you were happier," she added, sarcasm dripping in every word, "But heard he's already found another girl these days."

Riley blinked, lowering her hand. Her eyes had turned black again, and she clenched the hand that had been held to her cheek into a fist.

"Don't you dare mention him."

Just as the faerie had raised her hand to strike again, the TV in the living room which had been turned off crackled to life at a static channel, the volume fluxuating at max intervals. At the same time, the light in the main hallway flickered before its bulb exploded, and with it, James' tolerance.

"Get out." he was calm, on his feet before he realized what was happening, kneeling next to Riley, helping her sit up. After making sure she was okay and able to stand, he insisted she go to their room and lay down and relax, or at least, until Taelia was gone.

"But James, really, I'm fine, I grew up like th-"

"I don't care if you grew up like that - no one lays a hand on you around me. No one. Now, like I said before," turning back to the girl who only whistled 'victory fanfare', "Get. Out."

Taelia laughed, getting to her feet with a smile. Riley only made sure she was behind James, hand grasping his, managing to poke her head out from around his side as Taelia rolled her eyes.

"Oh, dear boy, you'll have your way, I'll leave. Can't promise things'll stay quiet, but it's nice to have finally met you. I meant her no harm, you know. But duties should be followed, without that order isn't maintained. Until we meet again."

And with a simple nod, the faerie disappeared into thin air.

After a few seconds of stunned silence, James finally spoke.

"Riley, honey, what the hell was-"

"I think she's just trying to scare me, she's never like that. Hope she's still my friend in the morning. Don't worry about it, everything's fine. Come on, I'm tired."

Rubbing her eyes and trying to forget how venomous Taelia's voice had gotten before she'd left, Riley yawned and walked further down the hall, yelping when she stepped in shards of glass from the broken wineglass when she'd dropped the tray.

"What the freaking hell. I'm done. As if dropping that tray wasn't bad enough. I don't even feel like-" of course, before she can protest cleaning up in favor for just going to bed, James already has her in his arms and side steps the broken glass, heading towards the bathroom.

Setting her on top of the counter, he pulls what shards he can out before digging out a bottle of peroxide from the medicine cabinet.

Riley can only manage to laugh, letting her legs relax and hang over the edge.

"Uh, honey? You're thinking like a human. That won't do anything, you know how healing works."

"Hm? Oh. Sorry, I'm just slightly freaked out about what happened. Not so much that the demon shows up, more along the lines of the lights and the TV," He explained, mind rewinding to when she'd been sitting like that on the old dresser the night they met, legs about wrapped around him like they were now.

"She's right. You're a telekinetic. Just seems like you can't control it yet - you getting angry is what made the lights go. I'm sure we could work to control it."

With that, one hand went under his chin as she pulled his lips to hers. Balancing against the sink, she broke the kiss, lips gliding across his neck until she'd settled on the usual spot, before opening her mouth and biting down. Ignoring how tight his hand in her hair had became, she drank; already feeling the spots on her foot closing.

Feeling his hand move from her hair to her face and rest against her cheek, she opens her eyes and reluctantly removes her fangs, but before she can lick the blood off he's kissing her again.

"Y'know-" Geez even just trying to talk is impossible when we're like this. "Makes me wonder-" slight pause, one of her hands against his chest in an effort to put enough space between their mouths so she can talk, "If Taelia won't talk to me - what about your friends? I mean, the rest of the band. Ever wonder about them?"

He shrugged, mind anywhere but on the three other teenagers he'd grown up and got famous with.

"Why should I?" And this time his hand's on her chin, thumb and index finger gently turning her head, lips moving to the hollow behind her ear, forgetting the small braid the lower half of her hair was pulled into.

"Dunno, just - mhm - thought it'd make you feel less...alone."

He gave a small laugh against her skin, she could practically feel him roll his eyes.

"I haven't been alone. Ever, really. It's not even that I miss people, it's just-"

"But you've got to miss somebody. You can't live like this," she paused, motioning to the way they were tangled up before smiling, "And not come away with almost human feelings. It's impossible."

He sighed, looking over her before stepping back to lean against the doorframe. Was it even worth it to mention he hadn't heard from the guys in years? That he had absolutely no clue what'd happened to any of them? He was pretty sure Logan and Camille were married by now, Carlos probably had settled down some and wasn't so crazy, and Kendall - James didn't really want to think what had become of Kendall. He knew his best friend's parents had been vampire hunters prior to Big Time Rush getting big, and they'd paused once everyone'd moved out to LA - well, more correctly the boys and Kendall's mom and sister, his father had been killed by vampires while on a hunt, he'd been outnumbered. And to make matters worse, while out in LA, his girlfriend at the time, Jo, had been killed by a rogue vampire.

And then the thought crossed his mind - now that he was a vampire, would it drive Kendall to hunt him?

"-mes. James? Baby, you okay? You're all - you're spacing out on me, and your eyes are just- you thought I was scary; you're not responding and you're just standing there watching me and-" she broke off, sliding off the counter as he turned to walk out of the room, running a hand through his hair.

"I'm fine."

"Tell me why I should believe you." She murmured after him, shaking her head.

He didn't even bother to look back at her before slamming the door to their bedroom behind him.

Looks like it was time he tried to get into contact with at least one of the guys.


	8. Chapter 8

Walking into the small bar (and it's really not much bigger than the coffeeshop she'd owned in Chicago), James somehow is still able to immediately recognize Logan, and he heads over to him, Riley following behind.

This wasn't exactly her idea of a good time, the music was too loud, it didn't have the best lighting, and for the life of her she couldn't figure out why something in the room smelled so revolting.

"Do we really have to stay much longer? I know we just got here, but - say hi and invite them over, I don't like this place." she complained, looking around again.

"Oh relax, this won't take longer than twenty minutes, I promise. At least say hi, you remember your manners, don't you?"

Trying her best to ignore the smile on his face at the jab at her age, she sighed.

"Remember my manners, jesus, you're kinda starting to sound like- uh- h-hi!" she stuttered at the girl that was holding out her hand, noticing how James had hugged the boy next to her.

"I'm Camille, you must be Riley, Logan mentioned James would be bringing someone." the girl explained, motioning to the seat across from here, "You can sit if you want, we haven't ordered drinks yet."

Riley nodded, sitting down, although she didn't feel much like talking, let alone drinking - well, alcohol at least.

"Sorry I didn't mention this was gonna be a double date, hun," James added, putting an arm around her shoulder before he continued, "So you've met Camille - this is Logan Mitchell, he was in Big Time Rush with me, but you already knew that."

Riley smiled and nodded at the boy sitting across from James, until she realized something. That boy was the reason that the room smelled absolutely unbearable. Narrowing her eyes, she debated saying anything, but curiosity to his reaction got the better of her.

"So you're the reason for the wet dog smell, wonder if a bloody mary would fix that. Tomato juice, 'y'know? Works for skunks, might do the same for lycans." she tried to say as nonchalantly as possible, totally catching the look of surprise on both James and Logan's faces at her words.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Logan said, his face neutral.

"Oh come on, I think you know exactly what I'm talking about, wolf boy. I can smell you from a mile away."

"Riley, this really isn't the time," James said, trying to prevent a disaster.

"Aw, come on, I'm just having a little fun. Speaking of fun, I bet he's a real animal in bed, right Camille?" Riley asked, winking.

Camille's eyes widened and she blushed. "Excuse me?"

Riley just laughed. She was having way too much fun with this. Before she could say anything else, James had grabbed her by the arm and walked away from the table. He turned the corner near where the restrooms were and threw her up against the wall.

"What the hell has gotten into you?" he demanded, eyes blazing with fury.

"Aw, come on, I'm just having fun. What's the problem with that, love?" Riley asked as she ran her hands up and down his chest

James growled and grabbed both of her hands by the wrists.

"I'm serious. Don't mess this up for me! I haven't seen him in almost five years and the last thing I need is for him to leave."

The look on Riley's face told him that she hadn't heard a word he said. Her gaze was fixed intensely on his throat. He knew that look well enough by now.

"Riley? Riley, when was the last time you fed?"

She shrugged. "Oh I don't know. I think the last time I fed was when I cut my foot, remember?"

James sighed internally. No wonder she was acting like this. The bloodlust was making her loopy.

"Okay, we just need to get through this and we'll go get something to eat, I promise. Just keep it together," he said as he released his hold on her arm and walked back towards the table. He sat back down and flashed a smile at Logan and Camille, both of whom were looking uncomfortable.

Riley sat back down and stuck her hand out towards Camille.

"I want to apologize for what I said earlier. It's been a while since I've eaten and sometimes, I say things I don't mean."

Camille took her hand and shook it. "It's fine. You know, I've been thinking. I'm not into this whole drinking thing, so why don't we leave the boys alone and we can go shopping?"

Riley looked at James, who nodded almost imperceptibly.

She shrugged. "Sure, sounds fine."

"Okay. We'll be back later. It was nice to see you again, James," Camille said as she got up and hugged James. It was strange though. When she hugged him, she noticed that he was a lot colder than a normal person should be. She dismissed the thought and then went and kissed Logan before leaving with Riley. They caught a cab and after an uncomfortable ride in which Riley would not stop staring at Camille, they finally made it to the mall. Camille found one of her favorite stores and ducked inside, Riley right behind her.

As soon as Camille had started flipping through a clothing rack in the clearance aisle, Riley took her chance.

Out of the store, down to the hallways where the soda machines and extra bathrooms were, then to some elevator and the parking garage, easy targets. And then something near backalleys were the bodies could be dumped, it was all too easy.

Once down in the parking garage, she set about just walking around, looking for something, like she couldn't remember where her car was. After about ten minutes, she heard someone calling to her.

"Ay! You girl, red hair - need a ride, you look lost. Or were you waiting for someone?" A steel blue kia sorento had pulled up into the parking spot next to her towards the back corner of the lot that was crowded with empty cars and the window was rolled down, the driver being a mid-twenties blonde in a Pierce The Veil tshirt.

"If I could get a ride that'd be great, thanks. My apartment is literally ten minutes from here." she lied, smiling.

The guy leaned over and pushed the passenger side door open, "Climb in. I won't do anything, I swear, got a girlfriend at home, just came to pick up a new CD."

She shut the door, turning to look at the guy, turning the music up as it was some early 2000's post hardcore rock.

"Can you lock the doors just in case? I get weird if they're unlocked, even if it's just a ride."

"Yeah, no prob-" His eyes widened at the sudden grab she made at his neck, hands on either side. With a quick twist the life had left his eyes, and Riley smiled. It was about time she'd learned to kill them quietly, never mind the mess she could leave. They'd never catch her anyways.

By the time she pulled her mouth away from the boy's neck, she sighed, wiping her mouth on the shirt he wore.

About four more and I'll be okay, I think.

As soon as the girls had left, James and Logan began to talk. They spoke of their lives and how they had changed in the last five years. They were, however, avoiding the large supernatural elephant in the room. The minute that James had hugged him, Logan knew something was different. He could recognize the scent of a vampire anywhere.

After about twenty more minutes of sitting in the bar, the two of them left, deciding to go for a walk through the park. They walked quickly and quietly down the street. Finally, they came to a deserted park. They both sat down on the swings and the silence continued.

"How long have you been a vampire?" Logan asked quietly

James looked at him. "About five years. How long have you been a werewolf?"

"About two hundred years. James, why didn't you tell any of us after it happened?"

"Hm, because I didn't think that calling you guys up and saying 'Hey guys, guess what? I'm a vampire!' would go over very well."

"Yeah, but we could have helped you, James! We wouldn't have abandoned you."

"You mean like you abandoned us?" James asked

"Excuse me?" Logan asked, standing up

"The minute that we decided to break the band up, you snatch up Camille and go running off to England without so much as a goodbye, only to send a letter a month later with some story about being accepted to a prestigious medical college! Why didn't you tell us you were a werewolf?" James asked, standing up as well.

"Well at least I tried to contact you guys! After the band broke up, you cast us out of your lives. I thought you had disappeared off of the face of the earth!"

"I did what I had to do! I didn't want to go around killing people!"

At this point, Logan actually laughed.

"Do you think you're the only one who has to deal with that?! When we were in LA, every month when the full moon rose, I snuck out of the apartment so that I wouldn't rip you guys to shreds!"

"Yeah, but Logan, I've killed people!" James exclaimed

"So have I," Logan replied, his tone cold.

"Whatever. At least I don't have to spend the rest of my life with someone as annoying as Camille."

In an instant, Logan had James pinned to the swingset by his throat.

"You don't know her. She's changed since our days at the Palm Woods. And I swear, make another comment about her and I will shut you up myself," he said, raising a clawed hand threateningly.

"Ooh, like I'm really scared. Bring it on, furball!" James declared, wrenching himself away from Logan.

Logan struck a fighting pose as did James. James hissed and bared his fangs, his eyes entirely black. Without warning, Logan tackled James to the ground and the two began to fight, biting and tearing at any place they could reach. When the two were done, Logan had managed to claw James across the face, leaving a nasty set of marks and James had managed to leave a deep gash on Logan's forearms. As both of their supernatural bodies worked to heal, the boys both realized how foolish they were both acting. They both apologized, and Logan actually embraced James after accepting his apology.

Then they sat down and began to talk like mature adults.

"So, is Riley the one who turned you?" Logan asked

James nodded. "It was five years ago. I had just finished a solo show in Chicago and I stopped at this little cafe. She was the only one working and we started talking. She invited me back to her place, one thing led to another, and the next thing I know, she's got her fangs in my neck. I passed out after that but by then, the transformation had already started. I guess some things never change," James said with a bitter laugh.

"Don't feel too bad. You're only human. I mean, you were human. You know what I mean. Anyway, I guess I should tell you why Camille and I came here. Over the last few months, I've just been feeling weird. I've been feeling anxious and nervous, even when the moon isn't full, like something bad is going to happen. I was talking to my pack leader, Lucian, and he told me to be prepared, that something bad was coming. And then a few weeks ago, Camille brought home a girl from the clinic, but this wasn't any normal girl. She was a faerie, and she told me that there was a war coming and that I should be prepared."

"This faerie girl, she have a name?"

"Yeah, I think her name was Taelia. Why?"

"I think she might be a friend of Riley's. She has mentioned that name before."

Logan fretted. "That's weird, but maybe it's nothing."

"Anything else you think I should know?"

"Well, Camille is a witch, and a pretty strong one at that, so just don't get her angry. Oh, and we also need to find Kendall. That's why we decided to come to Minnesota. We were hoping to find Kendall."

If James had still been human, he would have paled considerably at the mention of Kendall's name.

"Do you really think that's a good idea? Man when he finds out what I am, he'll kill me!" James exclaimed

"Come on, it's Kendall. Do you really think that would happen?" Logan asked.

"Well, you know his parents are vampire hunters, right? I mean, his dad was killed by vampires, so his mom gave it up when she moved to LA with us, but still. Ever since becoming a vampire, I've heard a lot of talk about the Knight family, and believe me, they are the best in the business. I don't think finding Kendall would be a good idea for me."

Logan considered this for a moment.

"You've got a point. Well, I'll try and come up with a plan, then, like always. I'll let you know when I come up with something."

"Sure thing, man. Call me if you need anything."

"Will do," Logan replied as he walked away from the park. His head was swimming.

Eventually, he found his way back to the hotel.

By the time Camille realized Riley had taken off on her, she shrugged it off and kept shopping - it was nice, she hadn't seemed to be enjoying it anyways. When she returned to the hotel, she was the first one there. There was no sign of Carlos or Logan. After putting her purchases away, she settled down on the bed and turned on the TV. A half hour later, the door opened and Logan came in.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," he replied. He took off his jacket and shoes and laid down in the bed next to her.

"How was the mall?"

"Riley ditched me at the mall, about an hour after we got there."

Logan didn't seem surprised.

"She didn't seem to be in the best of moods. Did she feel sick or something?"

Camille shook her head, "She kinda just took off on me, didn't even say she was leaving. Wonder if James knows where she is?"

"I'd hope, but I'll try calling him anyways."

Pulling out his cell phone, Logan dialed James only to have him pick up on the second ring.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just got back to the hotel, but Camille said that Riley left her at the mall. She ditched her about an hour after they got there. Is she with you? Camille just wants to make sure she's okay."

"Come to think of it I didn't even see her walk in. Oh no, I swear, if she's- I gotta go, I'll call you back once I find her, alright? She'll be fine, she can handle herself wherever she is. Tell Camille she's fine."

"Alright, but if-"

"She's not like Katie was, and even she knew how to get out of certain situations back in LA. She's fine, I promise. I'll talk to you later."

And with a click, James hung up. Logan looked at his phone for a few seconds before scrolling back through his notifications.

"Everything okay?" Camille wondered

"Yeah, James is going to look for her. He said she'll be okay. Oh, and in case you didn't know, James is a vampire. Riley is too. She's the one that turned him."

"I had a hunch, actually. When James hugged me, he was a lot colder than any normal human. Plus, Riley's whole comment about how you smell and being an animal in bed...I knew something was up."

"An animal in bed, huh? Why don't we put that to the test, see if it's true?" Logan asked as he leaned over and kissed Camille

Taking her wand off of the table next to the bed, Camille dimmed the lights.

"Your wish is my command," she replied, smirking.


	9. Chapter 9

Riley had just finished off her fifth or sixth kill, although she wasn't draining then completely - it was more just to get a taste of each, but still kill them along the way - definitely a different approach than before. Figuring everything was fine and it was about time she headed back home before James figured out something was up, she stood up and started walking, turning a corner down a dark alleyway, although she just had a bad feeling.

They were still streetlights visible, though shopfronts were dark and a heavy feeling still hung in the air. If she didn't know better, she'd have thought she was being followed.

"This is ridiculous. He should have caught wind of what I've been doing by now. I mean, heh, these killings should lead him right to me, they do say he's a hunter, after all. It'll be fun." And although there was no one else to listen to her, she smiled. Everything was working out nicely.

Well, until she heard footsteps. Spinning on the spot to look around, she couldn't see anybody.

"H-Hello? Anyone there?" she called, frozen to the spot, this was not good. With Taelia knowing what she knew about her relationship with Illysha, she could easily have sent someone or something to tail her just to make sure she wasn't doing anything stupid.

Closing her eyes and leaning against a nearby wall, she tried to calm down. After three centuries of wandering the dark, you'd think she'd be okay with echoing footsteps seeming to belong to no one. Taking out the small mirror she had in the pocket of her jeans, she opened it and looked behind her, the one advantage of having a demon after her meant it would have a reflection.

After staring into the reflective glass for what seemed like forever, she breathed a sigh of relief. It probably was just her imagination, or atleast a high off the blood.

But then the hands on her hips in a tight grip made two and two add up. The mirror had been completely useless. She had done something wrong and she knew it, and now she was going to catch hell for it.

Before she could say much of anything, one of his hands was in her hair, tilting her head to the side, his body pinning hers against the wall, and without a warning he roughly bit down, triggering a clear frightened-animal scream from the redhead.

"WHAT THE FUCK, JAMESY!?"

Her scream isn't heard, and if it is, it's not acknowledged. Either way she's thrashing against the taller vampire, intent on freeing herself, one hand practically clawing at the wall for leverage, the other reaching up and around in an attempt to pull his head away from her.

After a few seconds his head moves, blood on his lips. His eyes are black from the sudden rush of lingering human blood in her own, and he can't keep anger out of his voice as he starts to scold her again.

"I thought I told you, keep it together."

"I'm the older one here, screw keeping it together. I can have blood when I want. What's with you all of sudden? First the scene at the bar, and now trapping me in an alleyway? You're no better than the rest of them." She scoffed, turning her head, smirking slightly.

He knew he shouldn't have seen that as a challenge, but he was done putting up with her for the day. And the fight with Logan hadn't exactly helped any, he still had adrenalin he needed to burn off, and her condescending tone was only serving to push his buttons.

"I'm no better than the rest of them? The rest of them?" He wasn't yelling, but man could she tell he was pissed.

Letting go and stepping back from her, he turned to pace, slightly disturbed by how confidently she'd spoke. Thankful for that being as far as the scene he'd started was going to go; she sighed and collapsed against the wall, hugging her knees.

"I d-didn't mean- y-you just- I'm s-so-you don't u-understand!"

"What do you mean, 'the rest of them?' There's something you're not telling me, love. Whatever it is, you don't have to fight it alone anymore. Please, listen to me." Kneeling next to her, he reached for one of her hands, although she pulled it away, doubt and fear swirling in her eyes.

"J-just go away." Her voice cracks, of all the times to cry now.

"Not until you tell me what's wrong, and I get you home. Immortal or not, I don't want you out here alone."

She almost smiled.

Before she can stop herself she's pulled the drawstrings of his hoodie, closing the gap between them with a strangled sob as the tears start.

"I-I c-can't c-control it a-anymore. I k-know I said t-two years ago I-I'd st-stop but I j-just-"

"It's not just the bloodlust making you like this. I'm not stupid, I know you haven't been careful, you even said you hadn't been clean with a kill in weeks – I didn't think you'd might have reverted, that's all."

"I didn't mean t-to, I swear! It just- and then there's- ugh."

She gave a heavy sigh, burying her face in his shoulder, willing herself to shut up.

She didn't realize how much it hurt him to see her like this, so broken and clearly hiding something. Picking her up and setting her on his lap and just cradling her, she looked up and nodded, as if it was a nonverbal thank you.

"I don't know why I like to walk alleyways like this, they're nothing but bad memories. Back in Chicago I got mugged one time, and being I'm a girl, well, you know how those usually go, it'd been just after my father's death, so I felt sympathetic, I didn't want to kill the guy because he might have had family, y'know? So I'm pinned against the wall, pretty much you had me, and before I know it the guy's all-" she shuddered, gulping at the memory.

"He was a vampire too, I still remember the feel of his fangs, hence why when you bit me I flipped out. It'd been similar to that. But I guess there's a silver lining, because that was the night I met William. I mean, I remember passing out, but when I woke up, he had a towel to my neck and had already called the police on the guy. I think I turned him that night, as soon as I got my bearings I went for the kill."

"Wait, you were-"

"Don't say it. It's like humans' repressed memories, but because I was a vampire at the time, I can recall it perfectly. That's why I said you were no better, for a moment, I really thought – well, let's just say déjà vu."

He didn't know what to say, usually humans found the topic impossible to talk about, taboo to bring up, and he sure was, explaining why he'd scared he so badly while revealing something she probably had never told anyone before.

"Riley – I'd never. Ever. I love you, you know that. My nerves were just running high at the bar because I hadn't seen him in years, and I didn't want anything bad to happen. And I probably should'nt've snuck up on you like that, but I got into a fight with Logan and I'm still running on adrenalin, and-"

"I'm sorry." She mumbles, arms wrapping around him, unsure of what else to say.

"I am too, believe me. I would've never believed someone would-"

"Please, just stop talking about it. It hurts to think about. So between that, the bloodlust, Taelia not talking to me and your friends showing up – I'm a wreck. "

James rested his chin on the top of her head, one hand smoothing her hair.

"It'll be okay, we'll work this out. But first, let's get you home, okay? You need rest."

"I don't need rest, James. Not after finally telling someone a secret I've kept to myself for the past – hell, I don't know how long. And I don't exactly need time to myself, I know you think I probably want to be left alone." She refuted, one hand reaching up to unzip his hoodie before she pushed it off his shoulders, licking her lips.

"I fucking need you."

After Camille dropped him off at the ice rink, Carlos went inside and rented a pair of skates. Even though he didn't have any hockey gear, it still felt good to be out on the ice again. He skated around for almost two hours, just enjoying himself. When he finally came off of the ice, he was exhausted.

He stumbled to the nearest table and sat down. A girl was sitting at the table, typing furiously on a laptop. Carlos tried to engage the girl in conversation.

"So, what are you working on?" he asked nonchalantly

"None of your business!" she snapped

"Jeeze, sorry. What's your name? Are you from around here? Why are you sitting by yourself?"

The girl huffed in annoyance.

"Look dude, I just came here to do my work. The last thing I need is - Carlos?"

Carlos caught her eye and realized that she looked very familiar. Though it had been five years since he had seen her last and even though she had definitely matured, there was no mistaking it.

"Katie?" he asked, unsure

She nodded. "What are you doing here? Last I heard, you were in Mexico, visiting family."

He shrugged. "I needed to get away. What are you doing here?"

Katie rolled her eyes. "I live here with Kendall, remember?"

"Right, right. Speaking of Kendall, how is he?"

"He's doing good. He's actually here right now to pick me up. You can come with me if you want. You can crash at our place for the night."

"Thanks, I'd like that!" Carlos exclaimed. He jumped up as Katie gathered her things and put them in her bag. The two of them walked out of the ice rink. Out on the street, Kendall was waiting for Katie.

"Hey Katie, did you get that stuff done that I asked you to do?"

"Sure did. And look who I bumped into at the rink!" Katie said, shoving Carlos in front of her

Kendall choked on the water he was drinking from a water bottle when he saw Carlos.

"Carlos? What are you doing here?"

"Hi Kendall," Carlos replied, grinning sheepishly.

Before Carlos could say anything, Kendall had enveloped him in a bone crushing hug, which Carlos gratefully returned.

"I've missed you, man," Kendall said.

"Missed you too," Carlos replied, his voice muffled.

"So what brings you here to Minnesota?" Kendall asked

"Actually, I was looking for you. There's something I need to talk to you about."

"Sure, what's up?"

"Actually, it's something I was hoping to talk about in private," Carlos admitted, looking around at the busy street.

Kendall nodded and started to walk towards the apartment that he and Katie shared. He walked up the stairs and unlocked the door and ushered Katie and Carlos inside. Carlos sat down on the couch and waited. Kendall sat in a chair across from him while Katie retreated into her room down the hall, deciding to give the boys time to catch up.

"So what have you been up to?" Carlos asked

"Well, as you know, I took over the vampire hunting business from my parents. That's why I moved back here to Minnesota in the first place. So that's been keeping me pretty busy and Katie's starting her sophomore year of high school. So what about you, man?"

"Well after we finished with the band, I went to visit some family in Mexico. I was supposed to stay for five weeks, but that turned into five years. I mostly helped my family on the farm and just spent all of my time outside. But then a few weeks ago, some weird things started happening. I started getting these unbearable headaches that wouldn't go away and then I started having dreams."

"What kind of dreams?"

"These dreams were the kind of dreams that felt so real. Like I knew that what I saw was actually going to happen. To top it all off, in the last dream I had, I heard a voice. The voice told me that our world was headed for chaos and that I had to stop it. The voice also told me that I had to find my friends, but before we could deal with the outside calamity, we first had to fight the chaos from within."

"Hm, so it was almost like you were predicting the future?" Kendall questioned

Carlos nodded. "My grandmother told me that psychic abilities are pretty common in my family."

"So, this voice told you to find your friends. Have you tried contacting Logan or James?"

Carlos opened his mouth to say something, but then he thought about it. He decided not to mention Logan or James just yet.

"No, I haven't tried either of them. Considering the fact that they both just pretty much disappeared, I figured I would try you first."

"Makes sense. We can work on that later. Do you have a place to stay?"

"No, not really."

"Well, don't worry about a thing. You can stay here as long as you need to," Kendall said as he went to retrieve some blankets from the hall closet.

Carlos breathed a sigh of relief. This was a lot easier than he anticipated. Glancing at the clock, Carlos realized how tired he actually was. He said goodnight to Kendall and settled in on the couch. Before closing his eyes, he sent a quick text to Logan letting him know that he was with Kendall, that he had told him about the visions, and that he would meet up with him and Camille soon. After that, Carlos fell into a relaxing sleep. Maybe things weren't going to turn out as bad as he had originally thought.


	10. Chapter 10

After saying goodnight to Carlos, Kendall walked back down the hallway and leaned against the wall. He sighed audibly. Katie poked her head out of her bedroom.

"Everything okay, big brother?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Katie rolled her eyes. "Please, I've known you my whole life and I can tell when something's wrong, so what's up?"

Kendall shook his head. "Nothing, it's just something that Carlos told me that's got me a little freaked out."

"What did he say? Come on, Kendall. I'm not a little kid anymore. You don't have to protect me."

"Don't worry about it. I just have some thinking to do, that's all."

As Kendall turned to walk into his room, Katie spoke up.

"Hey Kendall, if Carlos is here, does this mean that you're going to try to find James and Logan?"

"I don't know, Katie."

With that, Kendall closed the door to his room and sank onto his bed. He couldn't believe this was happening. He didn't know what was worse, though. The fact that Carlos told him that danger was coming, or the fact that he might have to talk to Logan and James again. As much as he missed his friends, he was scared. It had been five years since he had last seen his friends. What if they changed? With another sigh, Kendall changed into pajamas and crawled back into bed. He closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep.

When James and Riley returned to their apartment, she couldn't help but feel a little uneasy, although she wasn't sure why.

"Do we have to go home tonight? Let's stay out a little longer…" she pleaded, hanging on his arm as he tried to find the right key.

"Oh no no sweetheart, I think you've been out long enough. Come on, you look like you're going to pass out on me."

She rolled her eyes, "So I'm a little weak in the knees and slightly buzzed from the mix of blood tonight, can you blame me?"

He laughed, turning the doorknob after having found the right key, one hand reaching to ruffle her hair.

Riley was the first one into the room, and she immediately headed for their bedroom, if only to prolong what had started in the alley.

Flipping her shirt over her head and dropping it in the laundry basket, she ran a hand through her hair before flipping on the light.

Oh how she wished she hadn't.

"Still can't believe you talked me into a back alley make out session, but atleast if we're home it won't matter how loud you-" James continued from the other room, tossing his hoodie to the couch before he was interrupted by Riley's scream.

Taking off down the hall, he skidded to a stop in the doorway of their bedroom, first noticing the redhead curled in a ball on the floor, shaking and mumbling about something through tears.

Kneeling by her, he coaxed her into a sitting position, pulling her into his lap.

"Hey, calm down honey, you're okay. There's nothing here, I promise. Did you get another flashback? You're okay, Ri-"

"N-No I'm n-not!" She added quickly, grabbing his hand and pulling it over her eyes, "L-Look at th-the-"

She heard rather than saw his reaction, but still was freaked out all the same.

"What. The. Fuck?"

The room was in complete order, only one thing was out of place –the main comforter was pulled back like it always was, but the sheets - he wasn't exactly sure what was drawn on them, but judging by Riley's

reaction, it wasn't good.

"What is that?"

She bit her lip, still keeping his hand over her eyes.

"D-devil's trap. It's used to keep demons in place, if they cross it, they can't leave the circle it forms. W-who would even-"

"There's a note in the middle of it." He noticed, seeing a crumpled piece of paper among the – well, it looked like blood, but there was no way someone could get ahold of that much and have it not be noticed.

Sliding her off him and reminding her everything was okay, he got up and grabbed for the paper, realizing the sheets were sprayed with red spray paint.

"This is ridiculous. Who does this? It's like they just broke in to paint this and leave. Nothing's missing, and there's just this note. I'm so confused."

"What's the note say?" she asked, already having a feeling she knew the answer.

"Well – here. It says, 'I know you think you're being good, but that lapse tonight and how you're focused on revenge? I'd be surprised if he doesn't turn and run when he knows what you've become. Or what you plan to be. Remember the plan – you can't lose yourself now. If you want to find me, fine – but expect they'll find you first.' Riley, what is this? It's directed at you!"

She visibly cringed.

"I-I don't know. How did they find out about tonight? And just how I feel about Ill-?"

"And why do I have a feeling it's also talking about me? What does it mean by me knowing what you've become? I already know you've lapsed, that could be it. But what's this about a plan, hey?"

"I don't know, James. I seriously don't know, okay!?"

"Well, whoever they are, they assume you know them and you'll come after them."

"It could be one of Taelia's friends trying to scare me, y'know how faeries are, they're like in packs! That has to be who this is! Just get rid of it, Jamesy, please! It's bad enough I know that they can get in, but to put that where I sleep? I can't. Everywhere I go, my revenge haunts me."

"It's not a curse," he tried, ripping the note in two before gathering the sheets that had been painted on and putting them all in the corner of the room, planning on cleaning them as soon as possible after whatever mess it had implied was cleaned up.

"It's just something you have to deal with. You don't have to like it, but you can't avoid it."

"Listen to you, comfortable being undead much? I seem to remember I wasn't the one who put their fist through a mirror when I found out I had fangs," she teased as she lifted her head, surprised that thinking of the memory had made her smile.

"Well you didn't exactly ease me into it."

"Was never going to, I'm not like that. Why do you think I made the first move? And besides, why sugar coat if it's only going to hurt more later on? Oh, joy - sounds like this is turning into moral debate, better shut me up before I go on a rant. And before those last nine words cause you to do anything, I'll just mention I'd prefer sleeping in the living room tonight, just to save my sanity."

"Mine too. You've had enough fun tonight, don't you think? I don't even know what your final kill count was. Wouldn't a movie sound better than what I know you're thinking?"

"You know how movies end up - there's no difference between what I'm thinking now and the movie except maybe forty-five minutes of pretending to pay attention. And it was six, by the way. Lot better than

I used to be, believe me."

He smiled, offering her his hand to pull her to her feet, trying to remember she didn't want to end up sleeping in the room they were in.

"Can you atleast put a shirt on? I mean, we might end up sleeping in here like it or not."

She turned to look at him and winked, going to walk out of the room, adding, "I'm sorry…about that freakout, I just-" but before she could finish James had grabbed for her wrist and spun her back around to face him, "Demon stuff, I get it. You don't have to explain it, everything about your past relationship about covers it."

He smiled, but let go of her right away, remembering the scene from two hours earlier.

"And about earlier, I'm-" He didn't get five words out before she'd slapped her hand to her forehead.

"Fuckin' A. It's worse than that. I think I know who did that – I've been backstabbed."

"How'd you figure?"

She rolled her eyes, but laughed, walking him back against the door.

James smirked, his hands grabbing her hips to pull her closer against him, neverminding the almost-whine of impatience as she spoke between kisses.

"How could a demon be able," pause. "to draw a demon's trap-" pause. "and not get stuck in it?" pause. "She really thinks she's outdone me," pause. "I'm gonna hunt-" pause. "her down myself, I don't care-" pause. "who comes after me."

This time his fingers hook into the belt loops of her jeans at the same time she reaches to pull his shirt off, and for once he's thankful she's still got a bra on – if not, they wouldn't be talking much, not when there was so much else they could be doing.

"Riley, who?" He asks, trying to prolong whatever conversation he can in the moment, knowing she expects him to declasp her bra at any second.

"Taelia."

James isn't sure how to react, but before he can, Riley's launched into something else altogether by explaining why, "How else would she know where to find me? Nothing was broken in because the bitch can get in her own way with that fuckin' faerie magic, how was I so stupid?"

"You're not stupid." One hand to unclip her bra, the other to put a hand behind her head. Two seconds to suppress another groan as she worked her jeans off, not putting any space between them. When she finally looked up again, her eyes were black with lust, despite all the killing from earlier in the day.

"With all that killing I did today, it made me realize some things. Firstly, yeah, fresh human blood is way better than refrigerator donation center stuff. Secondly – I'm really really really glad I have you, as much as I may talk about the past. I'm sorry. About all of it, really."

He nodded, leaning in to nuzzle her as she put a hand against his chest, curling her fingers just enough to cause a pinprick like pain.

It took him a moment to realize she'd fed more often than he had – it'd been days since he'd last, usually he was solely focused on keeping her in check that he hadn't bothered to remind himself. Knowing she'd gotten used to him being somewhat rough when it came for his turn to feed, he acted.

Stepping away from the door to surprise her, he uses what few seconds he has to push her to the bed, the both of them falling to the mattress, she giggling.

"James, mhm, d-don't-" she protested at the attempt at pulling the comforter over them, "It'll get too warm, and I don't want to wreck that one, too!"

"Who said anything about wrecking it, love? I'm careful – you're the one that likes to make a mess, you know. Just look at the blood and the Nutella," teasing kiss, answered by hands in his hair. His mind drifted to how she'd once mentioned a major weakness of hers being accents – particularly English or Northern Irish at that, and knew at once how to stop that annoying habit of her always saying sorry when she really didn't need to. Knowing mentioning the spilled snacks was going to make her say it again, he smiled, thankful for all the BBC shows they'd been watching, as he found he could do a decent accent if he tried hard enough.

"And before you say you're sorry again," he began, watching her eyes widen in alarm at the noticeable change in his voice, "Listen to me. Say it again when you don't really need to and you'll have something to be sorry for."

She couldn't help the moan as his lips found her neck and her hands tightened in his hair.

But when he woke up in the morning – she was gone.


	11. Chapter 11

'You lying backstabbing bitch. First you show up to warn me, we get into a fight, than you draw a fuckin' devil's trap on my bed just to tease me because you KNOW I'd LOVE to trap Illshya in one? I know I'm supposed to be in this, the plan and all. But I can't. Can't you see? For as much as I talk about William and wanting revenge, I love James. I won't go through with it, I can't. I won't. Tell our dear master that, and let me make this clear – you dare to come after either of us again, I will kill you.'

Riley read off her trial message to Taelia in her head as she sat in the small coffee shop, nursing a chai latte. None of it was right, but the faerie had turned on her. Or had she turned on her friend? After telling James how William had saved her, and then how he'd understood her feelings the night before after finding the trap and the letter – she didn't want to be part of the plan anymore, didn't want to see him hurt.

She could only hope their master was going to understand, and not come after her. Then again, what worried her the most was James' other friend, the vampire hunter. Taelia had said he would come after Riley if she went after her, like a chain reaction. But she'd already put it into motion, so she might as well go through with it. After all, after all the things she'd faced before, how bad could a hunter really be?

On the other hand though, part of her doesn't want all the fun to purely be the hunt itself - rather, if this hunter is like most humans, there's more than enough room to mess with his head along the way. Nothing a little dinner date won't solve, that is, if she can get his number.

Grabbing her phone and texting James, she's not surprised to already have a missed call from him. Listening to the voicemail, she can't help but laugh.

'So you couldn't have left a note, yeah? I get you're eager to go after Taelia, but after the fight you guys got into? I don't think you should go after her alone. Just promise me you won't get yourself killed and you'll be home for dinner. Love you.'

Erasing the message, she sighed and allowed her head to rest on the table in front of her, just narrowly avoiding knocking her latte over.

Not realizing how long she'd sat, she looked up at the sound of the doorbell ringing, indicating more customers.

To her surprise, the remaining two members of Big Time Rush that she had yet to meet had walked in.

"I told you, Katie's got school - she'll be fine. Do you really think it's a good idea to go and find James? We don't even know if he's in the States, you know, solo career?"

"You're forgetting he fell off the grid a few years ago, nobody knows why."

At the sound of conversation, Riley stood up and folded the note she'd been writing into her pocket, smiling as she looked around.

Getting up and walking to grab a bag of apple chips from the snack counter, she went to pay for them, sidestepping the blonde and Latino with a nod, they letting her go ahead, unsure of what to order. After she'd paid, Riley turned back around to look at the blonde, plan already in her head.

"I'm really sorry to bug you, but you look really familiar, like I've seen you before. Are you in a band or something?" She asked, laughing softly before she ran a hand through her hair nervously.

Kendall shifted on his feet, startled by the sudden recognition once again some years later before he turned to Carlos and told him what he wanted.

As Carlos went to order for them, Kendall walked back to where Riley had been sitting at sat down in one of the lounge chairs, motioning for Riley to sit down as well.

"Yeah, I mean, I used to be. Now I've taken on the family business."

"Dad wants us to pick up where he left off, saving people, hunting things-" She started, unable to hid the glimmer of netflix geek showing in her eyes.

"The family business," Kendall finished for her, finishing the most well-known Supernatural quote from the first season.

"So I take it you know what I mean. You wouldn't happen to be a hunter yourself, would you? I mean, I haven't lived here all my life, if there were more of us I'm sure I'd have no clue."

She nodded, "Well, not that I've been doing it long, I've recently been thrown into it, the case I'm on- it's personal." She lied - well, she wasn't really lying, but if she could at least gain his trust this way then so be it.

"Case? You mean you work more than the usual?"

"Well yeah, werewolves, vampires, demons, ghosts - it's all game. Don't tell me you're a specialist." she teased, trying to act sick of most hunters like him, except for the fact there was no one quite like Kendall Knight when it came to vampire hunting.

"Vampires - only thing I go after. Most recent chase has been sporadic at best, quiet for awhile and then I heard about six kills last night, although it seems more like a newborn this time, these kills weren't clean. What'd you say your case was? Maybe I can help."

She shrugged, opening the bag of chips up and taking a few out before offering it to him, "I don't think you would, it's not your thing. Faerie. Thing's been leading me all over town and I can't seem to pin it to give me enough time to kill the son of a bitch," she explained.

He nodded, turning as Carlos had walked back with his and Kendall's drink.

"So, introduce me. Seeing as you two clearly have hit it off, talk about falling in love at a coffeeshop, jeeze."

Kendall rolled his eyes.

"Same profession, that's all. Man, I'm terrible, I never even got your name! I'm Kendall Knight, you are-"

"Riley Jameson."

And without thinking about it, she shook his hand.

Kendall noticed immediately the difference in body temperature, Riley's hand was cold, and he just had a bad feeling she probably knew more about his current case than she was letting on.

"You're really cold, are you okay? You sure you should be out in the daytime like this if you're sick?" he started, already trying to get her to open up.

"I'm anemic, that's all. I'm not sick, caffeine makes me anything but. I can be out in the daytime, it's not like I'm a vampire, boy, are you that paranoid? And by the way, I mean, stupid question, but - you wouldn't happen to be the Kendall Knight, the renowned vampire hunter? I mean it's obvious, but-" if she'd been human, she would've blushed.

"Yeah, that's me. And I guess it's a sign if we've started out this well, but if you're still in town later tonight, maybe we could get dinner?"

Riley almost choked on the chip she'd been eating, Carlos apparently having the same reaction because seconds later he'd sputtered a "DUDE! You just met her!" after a mouthful of coffee that still was too hot to drink.

Kendall turned to him, sighing, "Look, it's not often I find someone that does what I do, let alone female. Give me a break."

Riley grinned, this was all working in her favor, and it scared her a bit.

"Yeah, why not? What time tonight?"

"I have to pick up my sister Katie from school and run some errands, and then catch up on the case, but it shouldn't take too long. Maybe six fifteen?"

"Works for me. Hate to be the one asking, but neither of us has the other's number. Should I give you mine like how this usually goes, or?"

"Here." Motioning for her phone, she handed it to him and he programmed his number into it.

"So I guess I'll call you then? Six fifteen? I hate to cut this short, but I've got some things I need to do today, mostly research, but still it's stuff that I can't do at a coffee shop when I'll be distracted by a former band member."

"Two actually," Carlos added, causing Riley to look at him. Knowing he'd be expecting a reaction, she faked it, already knowing exactly who they were.

"Well this is interesting. It's not everyday you see half of your favorite boyband walk into your local coffeeshop. Where's the other two? I think I can still remember names, it's been years. James and Logan I think?" she tried, surprised by how well she'd pulled that off.

"We don't know, we're actually looking for them ourselves." Carlos explained.

"YOU"RE GETTING BACK TOGETHER? Sorry, I guess the wounds from the breakup didn't really heal...forget I said anything, I should get going. Good luck finding them. And Kendall, uh, good luck with the case you're on." She said, getting up and pulling on her jacket, trying to not look like an idiot.

"It's okay, that's a fan reaction, it's expected. Good luck with your case too, Riley. And if you're still in town tonight, I'd still really like to have dinner."

She turned to him and smiled, one foot already out the door.

"Sounds good."

The minute she got down the block from the coffeeshop, Riley grinned. This was going way too well to end nicely, but she'd enjoy the ride in the meantime.

Checking her phone again out of habit, she noticed a text from James. Ignoring as she would be home soon enough, she quickened her pace and began to hum, thankful for the weather being comfortable for once.

She could lie and say she had plans that night, atleast to get away for dinner - somehow the idea of outright telling the truth didn't seem like the best idea, so she'd try to make up for it by being home for lunch.


	12. Chapter 12

"Well, you're not covered in blood, that's good."

Closing the fridge, Riley nearly jumped a foot in the air at James leaning against the stove, arms crossed.

"Why would-"

"Tell me you didn't go after the faerie, love."

She laughed, turning around after cracking open the bloodbag she'd grabbed.

"I told you last night I wasn't going to, and I didn't. I went to go get coffee, you know, seeing as I'm not working at the shop anymore. And I ran into some guys."

Just from the tone of her voice, James knew it wasn't good.

"And you knew them. Well, not that I mentioned you, but-"

He sighed, nothing good ever happened when she went out alone, and that only proved it.

"Old bandmates of mine?"

"The blonde and the latino. Seems like they're looking for you, that's what it sounded like when I started talking to them. And I mean…I can't believe you didn't tell me. Not that I found out the hard way, 'cuz he didn't kill me, but – you could have told me you were best friends with one of the world's most renowned vampire hunters?"

"You knew." He says quietly, a bit shocked that she would even talk to Kendall without him there, knowing the danger she could put herself in.

"When did he turn, hey? Before or after I met you? Was the break up what caused him to flip the switch?"

"Would you stop being so on edge all the time?"

She grinned.

"You're the one that's on edge, James. When's the last time you've had any fun? I mean besides from me. I've had my frenzy, you need one now. Maybe not actually killing, seeing as you're not exactly into that anymore, but-"

"It's like you're trying to get me to snap."

"Seriously. When's the last time you've thought out a hunt? Watched someone and waited, practically listened to the blood pumping through-" she continued, already thinking out how she wanted this to end.

"He has a sister. Can't be much younger than me – well, physically anyways. There's danger there, going for someone related to him, but due to the killing I've done, I'll throw him off your trail. You could have her, he wouldn't know until it was too late."

"And what about you? You're fine with one of the best hunters coming after you?" he rallied back, trying not to picture what Katie must look like now after five years.

"Those boys I told you about before? Those other hunters I knew? I used to throw them around like a dog playing with a chew toy. Kendall Knight will be no problem, even if he does manage to corner me. Now, just hear me out – I've never seen you really revert into what we are since I've turned you – I've never seen you lose control, ever. Maybe you need something like this."

"I'm not going after a sixteen year old I could kill when I've got an immortal nineteen year old in front of me."

She closed her eyes and growled, trying not to let his willpower to avoid being bad get to her.

"Would. You. Listen. To. Yourself? I'm trying to help you!"

"How?"

"For one, acting like what you really are! How can you act so human all the time? You're not that old, you should be just – unruly, uncontrolled, dangerous! Not-" at a loss for words, she made a motion to his entire body.

"That!"

James rolled his eyes, but walked towards her, having gotten used to this scene happening far too often for one reason or another.

"We have to stop amping each other up into things we wouldn't do otherwise. Fine, you want to see me like that so badly? I'll play your stupid little game and go after Katie – but you have to promise me, in return, you don't go anywhere near that faerie. Am I clear?"

She nodded, "It's funny, I always seem to get into love hate relationships..."

He wasn't about to argue that - there was no point. Well, she still wasn't going to have the last word on the whole thing.

"It's not a love hate relationship, you're just stubborn."

She grinned, but before she could come up with a retort, James' phone rang.

Walking off into the living room to resume the episode of Supernatural that she'd been watching the night Taelia decided to show up (and had consequently never finished), her mind wandered to the possible repercussions of what she'd just talked him into.

"Hello?"

"James, it's Logan. Any sign of Kendall yet? You know the area better, I was hoping maybe you'd ran into him or something."

Logan wasn't expecting anything interesting to be said, given that the entire scene by the swingset had been more than enough for a few days, but when James began the weirdest story of how Riley had been the one to run into him, Logan knew it was time they all met up and talked things over.

"That's the thing - it wasn't just Kendall though from what she told me. She said Carlos was with him. I thought he was still in Mexico these days. And I don't think Kendall'll want to see me, I mean - with what I am, it's a deathwish practically."

"Right, like he'd know you're a vampire right away. You really think he could tell on sight like that?"

"I don't know, but I'm not willing to risk it. Should we all try to meet up somewhere? I can't today, Riley and I have plans, but -"

"Like actual plans or is she just locking you in the bedroom all afternoon?" Camille chimed in, laughing as Logan's eyes widened, not having though her to be the type to joke like that.

"Like actual plans. Call me when you think we can figure something out?"

"Don't you think it's a good idea to try to get ahold of Carlos and see if he can ease Kendall into maybe wanting to see you?"

"Hey, if you think you've got a better shot at reaching him, be my guest. I'm really just more surprised that the one time I don't join her for coffee, she manages to run into people I have seen in five years, that's all."

"Alright, so I'll try to get ahold of him, and after I talk to him, I'll call you back? I'm sure everything work out fine."

"Fine with me. Talk to you later."

"Later."

Hanging up, Logan turned to Camille.

"So talk about unexpected events, Riley was the one that ran into Kendall - and apparently Carlos found him before she did."

"Now what?"

He shrugged.

"It's too easy, something's wrong. I mean - I call Carlos, we meet up with him and Kendall, then call James - it shouldn't be this easy to get us all together. And what happened to that faerie girl you healed? It's like she disappeared! I just have a bad feeling about this."

Too bad 'bad feeling' was a complete understatement.

Carlos had spent the entire day at Kendall's, mostly talking just to catch up while still avoiding the entire end-of-the-world thing, he'd already explained it once, and he knew he'd have to explain the whole thing again when he ran into James and the whole group was together.

"Hey, did anything about that girl this morning strike you as odd?" Kendall asked him as Carlos was looking over the various sketches and weapon info Katie had scattered over the table.

"Not really, why? I mean, besides the fact she was enough of a fan to recognize us, there's nothing."

"It's just when I shook her hand she seemed really cold, and she wasn't fidgeting and all unsteady like most girls are around us once they know who we are," Kendall replied.

"Don't tell me you think she's one of them."

"Anything's plausible, and with the recent killings this week along with the fact she mentioned she was a hunter? Seems a bit convenient. That whole asking her to dinner is just so I can figure out if I'm right or not."

"And if you are? What're you gonna do, take her back here and stake her?"

"Ideally, yeah."

Surprised by the lack of emotion in Kendall's voice, Carlos realized he wasn't the only one that had changed over the past few years. It didn't seem to register to Kendall that there was a chance that the girl wasn't who he thought, in fact it appeared quite the opposite, like he was sure another job would be finished later that night.

"Job of killing her aside, I've still gotta be nice and meet her for dinner. Since she knows who I am, I doubt she'll do anything to reveal her true nature, if that's what she is. In the meantime, as much of a longshot as this is, I think I still have Logan's number. Should we try calling him?"

"Can't hurt."

It had been another boring day at school. Katie honestly didn't know why she bothered going any more. She was already taking mostly senior level classes as a sophomore and didn't think that she needed to subject herself to the monotony. At least she had vampire hunting to keep her occupied. Not that she ever did any actual hunting of her own. Kendall had at least trained her in the basics of combat against the undead, but that was it. He feared too much for her safety to let her actually go out hunting with him. So, in order to keep herself occupied, Katie would draw sketches in her notebooks of the latest weapon prototypes that she had come up with for Kendall. Then at the end of the day, she would collect her things from her locker and begin the walk home.

Today, however, was not a normal day. In addition to being a star student, Katie was also the captain of the debate team, seeing as she enjoyed arguing and trying to persuade other people. Her team was preparing for a huge meet that was set to take place in a week, thus Katie had to stay late at school. After going over case notes with her partner, practicing the material several times, and eating a few slices of pizza with soda, she was finally able to go home. It was almost 6:30 p.m. and the sun had already began to set. The sky was colored with bright streaks, the color of blood.

The fall air was crisp and cool and Katie hugged her arms a little closer to her chest as she walked down the street. Though the street was a main road, it was surprisingly empty for the time of day. To make things even weirder, there was no traffic. She inadvertently shivered as she waited for the light to turn so she could walk across the street. This light, though, was taking ridiculously long despite the fact that Katie could see no cars coming. The longer she waited, the more anxious she became. It was like she could feel eyes on her, watching her every move. She turned around, but there was no one there. Just as she felt the panic settling into her chest, the light finally changed and she breathed a sigh of relief and hurried across the street.

Out of instinct, she glanced over her shoulder, but once again, there was nothing there.

"Come on, Katie, keep it together. Stop being so nervous! You're almost home. Just a few more blocks," she muttered to herself.

"Yeah Katie, keep it together. What's there to be scared of?" asked a voice

Katie spun around, but she couldn't see anyone.

"Hello? Who's there?"

"In the alley," the voice replied.

Despite the fact that the voice in her head was absolutely screaming at her not to walk into the alley, she couldn't help it. The voice sounded so familiar, she had to go see who it belonged to.

Cautiously, she took a step into the alley. She couldn't see anything, though it was getting dark fast. Suddenly, a pair of hands covered her eyes and a voice in her ear whispered, "Boo!"

As soon as the hands were removed, Katie spun around and looked at the person. Even though it had been five years since she had seen him last, there was no mistaking the eyes or the face. It was James. The thing that really unnerved her though, was the fact that he looked exactly the same as he did five years ago. It made her extremely nervous.

"James?" she asked, confused.

"Hi Katie," he replied with a slight smile.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to find you and Kendall."

Katie was at a loss for words, but she played it cool.

"Well, you found us. Congratulations," her tone cold.

"Ouch. Can you even pretend to be happy to see me?"

"Why should I, James? You left us without any explanations! No phone calls, nothing! You didn't even send any cards for our birthdays or anything."

He winced at the hurt in her voice. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

Of course, the next moment, he was taken aback as Katie wrapped her arms around him in a hug. She punched him in the arm playfully.

"I missed you, you big jerk!"

"I missed you too, dork," he replied as he picked her up and spun her around. She laughed.

As he set her back down and she stepped back, James really got a good look at her. Katie had certainly matured since he had seen her last. She had grown taller and had started to fill out her clothes nicely. Safe to say, she wasn't the same little kid she had been five years ago.

He was lost in his thoughts. So much that he didn't realize that Katie had been trying to get his attention for the last few minutes.

"Hello? Earth to James!"

"Huh?" he asked, blinking.

"I asked if you wanted to come with me. I'm going home. You can see Kendall."

As much as James wanted to go see Kendall, he knew that now was not the time. Besides, he had a job to finish. As Katie moved to walk past him and out of the alley, his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.

"James, what are you doing?"

"I'm sorry Katie, but I can't let you go. I can't let you tell Kendall that you've seen me," he replied, drawing her body closer to his.

"James, what's gotten into you? Let me go!"

James laughed cruelly.

"Now why would I do that?" he asked, brushing a stray hair off of Katie's neck.

"Let me go! I'll scream!" she declared, struggling to get out of his grasp.

"Oh honey, I don't think you'll be conscious long enough to do that!" he replied.

His eyes turned jet black and his canines elongated. Before Katie had the time to open her mouth to scream, he had already wrenched her neck to the side and bitten down on the tender flesh. At once, her blood was sliding down his throat and he relished the feeling. Her blood tasted so sweet, so innocent and pure. It was absolutely divine.

After a few moments, he removed his fangs from her neck and licked the excess blood from the wounds. He cradled her limp body in his arms and walked towards the entrance of the alley. He gently set her body down on the pavement. Before walking away, he took Katie's phone from her pocket and took a picture of her pale body. He sent the picture to Kendall, and then flitted away into the night.


	13. Chapter 13

Six thirty came and went, and when Riley realized both she and Kendall were late as far as contacting the other went, Riley texted Kendall asking whether or not they were still on with the plans, and waited for a reply.

After finally deciding on what to wear that night for dinner, she started on makeup. But of course, the minute she wraps a few strands into a curling iron and has the barrel rolled into a spot where it was easy to burn herself, her phone dings with a text reply.

'Sorry to cancel, bit of a situation right now - maybe some other time?'

She had to read it a few times before things clicked as to what that situation could be.

'Yeah, it's fine I guess. Are you okay? That read like you're worried or freaking out.'

Sighing as she slipped the iron out of her hair, she realized there probably was no point in continuing to put her hair up, given the plans had been cancelled. Then again, she'd expected them to fall through, especially if James had done as she'd wanted.

'My little sister never came home from school today, I'm sure she went to a friend's or something, I'm just freaking out.'

'I can tell. I mean, I'm all dressed up - I'm still going to go out I guess. Keep me updated once you find out where she is?'

She almost felt bad, knowing he was freaking out due to something that had indirectly been her fault.

'Sure.'

After she'd fixed her hair and finished her makeup. she wrote a note saying she'd gone drinking with a friend (incase James wondered where she was) and headed out to one of the local chain restaurants in the area.

Meanwhile, back at the apartment, Kendall was busy pacing. He glanced at his watch. It was almost 7 p.m. Katie should have been home by now!

"Dude, calm down. I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation as to why she's late," Carlos said as he stuffed his face with potato chips.

"Yeah, but that's the thing! She had debate practice until 6:00 p.m. and it's only a 15 minute walk from her school back here. And if she was going anywhere else, she would have let me know! I just have a really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach," Kendall said, sitting down on the couch.

A few minutes later, his phone buzzed. It was sitting on the table near the bag of chips that Carlos was eating.

"Hey Kendall, looks like you got a text from Katie. See? I told you there was nothing to worry about," Carlos said as he finished off the chips.

Kendall got off of the couch and grabbed his phone. He had two texts from Katie. When he looked at the messages, he actually dropped his phone.

"Kendall, is everything okay?" Carlos asked, cautiously.

Kendall shook his head, his face extremely pale.

"Katie's in trouble," was all he said before dashing out of the apartment.

Carlos grabbed Kendall's phone off of the floor and raced after him. By the time Carlos made it to the ground floor, Kendall was halfway down the block.

"Kendall, wait for me!" Carlos yelled as he struggled to keep up with the lanky blonde. When Kendall finally stopped, Carlos noticed a small crowd of people gathering around something. Kendall pushed his way through the small crowd and saw Katie laying on the ground. Her skin was extremely pale and there was a set of bite marks on her neck. He immediately grabbed her wrist and felt for a pulse. There was one and it was beating way too fast. He knew that it would gradually slow down before stopping altogether. Tears streamed down his cheeks. He felt Carlos put a hand on his shoulder after muttering what he assumed was curse words in Spanish.

Katie's eyes fluttered open slowly.

"Kendall?" she asked, her voice extremely weak.

"Hey Katie, it's me. Don't worry, I'm here. Everything's going to be all right. Everything's going to be okay. Just hold on," he said, stroking her cheek affectionately.

Katie managed a weak smile as Kendall heard the sirens of an ambulance approaching. Her eyes fluttered closed again as a paramedic gently tried to pry Kendall away from her. Kendall resisted momentarily until he realized that this man was probably going to try and save Katie's life.

While the EMT's worked on transferring Katie onto a gurney, Carlos helped Kendall to his feet and helped to explain to the police officers what had happened. After the paramedics finished loading Katie into the ambulance, Kendall and Carlos hopped aboard the ambulance and sped off to the hospital. Once they arrived at the ER, the paramedics worked to unload Katie from the back of the ambulance. As they rushed her into the hospital, the ER nurse informed them that only family was allowed at this point, which meant that Carlos would have to wait in the waiting room.

After getting her into a small area with a curtain, the nurses and doctors began to assess Katie as Kendall stood in the corner and tried not to freak out. One of the first things that his parents had taught him as a vampire hunter was how to compartmentalize his emotions in order to make hunting easier. He managed to compose himself slightly as the nurses began to poke and prod at Katie. They started multiple IVs and even had to start CPR at one point when she stopped breathing. Kendall clenched and unclenched his fists and ran his fingers through his hair.

It took almost 20 minutes for them to stabilize Katie enough to the point where they could transfer her to a regular room. Kendall went and found Carlos in the waiting room and the two went up to Katie's room together. When they arrived, a nurse was looking her over, making sure everything was in place. She explained that Katie was under sedation as well as having a blood transfusion in order to restore her. She placed the call light within Kendall's reach and told her to push the button if they needed anything.

Kendall walked over and grabbed Katie's hand. He began to cry again. Carlos pulled a chair next to the bed and motioned for Kendall to sit down. The two of them sat in silence for a while. The only sound that could be heard besides the steady beeping of the machines was the occasional sniffle from Kendall. Carlos patted his back sympathetically.

"I can't believe this happened," Kendall said at last.

"I know what you mean. I'm just as shocked as you are," Carlos replied.

"I should have just gone and picked her up! Man, I had a feeling that something was going to happen but I was just too stupid to do anything!"

"Kendall, don't blame yourself. There was no way that you could have known that something like this was going to happen."

Kendall continued talking almost as if Carlos had never spoken.

"Yeah, but you don't get it! I'm one of the best vampire hunters out there, and I can't even protect my own sister? I'm nothing but a failure!"

"Kendall, you're not a failure! You - "

"I can't lose her, Carlos. I can't lose her! The vampires, they've taken EVERYTHING from me. They've taken my parents, they've taken Jo….I can't let them have Katie, too. I just can't!" Kendall exclaimed as tears fell down his cheeks once again

Carlos got up and grabbed the box of tissue on the table next to Katie's bed. He handed them to Kendall, who accepted them gratefully. After a few more minutes of crying, Kendall composed himself once again and dried his eyes.

At that point, the nurse who had been there before knocked on the door and informed Kendall and Carlos that visiting hours were about to be over, but that they could come back in the morning. It was hard for Kendall to leave, but deep down he knew that Katie was in good hands. He kissed her on the forehead before walking out of the room, Carlos following right behind him. The two walked back to Kendall's apartment in silence. On the walk back home, Carlos texted Logan, telling him that they needed to talk and to meet him in front of Kendall's apartment building in 15 minutes.

After food had arrived and drinks had been refilled, Riley seemed to have forgotten that she'd even made plans in the first place. It was nice, to go out alone for once like the old days.

As she was paying with the little anamontronic credit card bill-display gadget at the table, her phone buzzed with another text from Kendall.

'I'm as composed as possible, given I found out what happened. Vampire jumped her as she was walking home. Checked my phone and the bastard was smart enough to send me a picture of the damage. She was walking home from school and I just- we're at the hospital now, doctor's say she'll be okay, I'm more shaken up than she is I think.'

Riley grinned, knowing all too well who had been behind that.

'I'm really sorry to hear that...think it was the same one behind the killings?'

'Possibly.'

'If you'd like, I could pick up some food for you and bring it to the hospital where you guys are.'

'That sounds great - where did you go, anyways? Just pick something, I'll eat pretty much everything.'

Good thing she hadn't slid her card yet. Accessing the menu from the little tabs, she picked the first thing she thought he'd like and added it as a 'to go' before finally paying.

After waiting for it to be ready, she texted Kendall again for the room number and whatnot that he and his sister were in.

'Actually I think I'm going to head back home, visiting hours are almost up around here and they want to keep her overnight for observation, just in case. If it's no trouble, think you could meet me at my apartment? I could use a movie to get my mind off tonight.'

Riley couldn't help the laugh at that text, this was going all way too well! He practically had just invited her in, all she needed was the address.

''No problem. What's your address? I'll be there as soon as your food's up.'

When the reply came through, she grinned. As much as she didn't like being by herself, she had to admit - it was when her crazy-deathwish-stupid ideas fell into place.

Once the two of them got back to Kendall's apartment, Carlos announced that he was going for a walk in search of something to eat. Kendall said that was fine because he was having a friend come over for a while anyway. After reassuring him at least ten times that he would be fine and that he would text him before he came back, Carlos walked out of the apartment. As he walked down the stairs, he was surprised to notice the girl from the coffee shop, Riley, coming up the stairs. He got into a small conversation with her before continuing on his way.

He waited outside of the apartment building. After about 10 minutes, he head a soft 'pop' as Logan and Camille appeared in front of him. The three of them managed to find a 24 hour diner and after the waitress took their order, they began to talk.

"We have a problem, guys," Carlos began.

"What happened?" Logan asked

"Katie got attacked today on her way home from school. She was attacked by a vampire."

Both Logan and Camille gasped.

"Oh my god, is she okay?" Camille asked

Carlos nodded. "She's in the hospital, but the doctors say that she'll make a full recovery."

"And how is Kendall?" Logan asked

Carlos' expression was grim. "He's not doing too great, honestly. He's obviously pretty torn up. The fact that she was attacked by a vampire makes it worse."

Logan took in a deep breath. "Any idea of who could have done it?"

Carlos shook his head. "I just feel so bad for Kendall, you know? First his parents, then Jo, and now Katie. It's horrible."

At the mention of her best friend's name, Logan felt Camille squeeze his hand a little tighter under the table. Shortly thereafter, the food arrived and everyone ate in silence. After they had finished their food and paid the bill, they all stood up and got ready to leave. Before they could leave, Logan's phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Logan, it's James," came the voice on the other end.


	14. Chapter 14

When she finally made it to the address Kendall had texted her, her mind was already busy trying to think of how to best control the situation. How much did she really want to tell him? Not enough to get her killed, certainly, but maybe - if she told him she knew the vampire responsible, knew how to corner it and kill before it did more damage, that might get him to let his guard down. Of course with that came making up a story with how she knew this vampire, and because she still had the scars from when she was turned, maybe she could make it convincing.

Buzzing the doorbell to be let in, she was startled slightly by the voicebox next to the buzzer, because although it'd said 'come in' she couldn't see who the voice had belonged to.

Opening the door and heading up the stairs leading to his apartment, she wasn't surprised to see Carlos walking down towards her.

"Hey, I heard what happened to his sister, that's terrible. This city's worse than Chicago I guess." she started, turning so he could walk past her.

"She's okay though, that's what matters. I'm more worried about him, he's just - I've never seen him like this. Maybe it's because Katie's all he really has left. But anyways, I'm going out to meet with a friend, well, he told me you were coming and I'd hate to be an extra in the room during a movie or something, you know how that goes. Don't know when I'll be back, but I'll call him before I get here so you guys know to let me in."

She nodded, walking up the rest of the stairs to knock on the door, not expecting him to open it right away.

To say he was stressed was putting it lightly, because she'd never seen his hair so messed up, like he'd constantly been running his fingers through it due to nerves. She could see the exhaustion in his green eyes, and if she looked hard enough she swore there were tear tracks.

"You're really not okay." she noted, holding the bag out before she added, "But I brought food, so cheer up a bit. What happened was terrible, and to be honest - it's a long story, but I know what you're going through."

He nodded, taking the bag and turning around to walk into the kitchen before he noticed she hadn't moved, just stood by the open door.

"It's open." he stated, setting the food down on the table before turning to look at her.

"I know, I just like holding to traditional manners, y'know? Don't like randomly walking into someone's house without them being okay with it, man, this one time my sister's best friend just walked in one day and went for our fridge and raided it, oh I wanted to kill her after I found out she'd eaten the rest of the nutella cheescake I'd made. So it's little things like that I like to avoid."

He laughed, although something in the back of his mind was warning him that his intuition wasn't wrong about the whole vampire thing from the coffeeshop.

"Well alright, come in then. Usually you don't see people as young as you adhering to manners like that, if you do, you're really-"

"An old soul?" she tried as he opened the food and container it'd been put into, the smell of steak fries immediately making him realize how hungry he really was.

"Something like that. Well, while I eat, why don't you look for a movie?"

Looking around, she noticed a keurig on the counter.

"I will but - do you mind if I use your keurig and see what Kcups you have? I just have this thing where I like to drink tea every day and I forgot to make some this morning."

He nodded.

When Kendall had finished eating the burger Riley had gotten him and she'd made a mug of twinings green tea, the two sat on his couch and started looking for a movie.

"I feel really bad about what happened today, I know what that's like." she started, turning to look at him, already set on making the plan work. In truth, the only reason she'd even agreed to dinner was because she wanted to try to sleep with him, if only for the sense of danger that was her being a vampire and he a hunter. Knowing it was wrong in the first place, she knew James wouldn't be coherent enough to care the same night - given that he'd gone after Katie, he probably was busy wallowing in self pity and trying to forget what he was.

"You can't possibly-" he countered, before she launched into the story she'd came up with.

"When I was younger I found my sister passed out beneath the bleachers at a baseball game we'd gone to, puncture marks and everything, she'd bled out, there was nothing we could do and no-one had noticed a thing in the meantime. That's what led me to hunting, see, our parents had died when I was 19, and I'd taken care of her ever since. I know how scary it is to think you're going to lose the only person close to you."

"But Katie's not the only person close to-"

She shook her head with a smile.

"I ran into Carlos on the way up here, he said you're freaked out because she's the only thing you've got left. We have more in common than you think, Kendall. Except I've already lost everything."

She was surprised at how much emotion she'd managed to throw into her voice, if she blinked hard enough, she could probably bring back the old cry-on-cue and really make it something.

He set the remote down as the opening scene of Dead Poet's Society began to play.

"Oh come on, you haven't lost everything, there's got to be something you've got left!"

She shrugged, wondering if and when she could get away with putting her head on his shoulder.

"Besides this routine in between hunts? Trust me, there's not much besides technology - blogging can and will take over your life if you let it."

"Don't you miss human interaction? Don't tell me you're one of those girls that locks themselves in their rooms idolizing over bands and old movies..."

She smiled, feeling the 'yes' that was tugging at her to move closer to him.

"I'm not. My walls are covered with old hunting news and that kind of stuff. It's been forever since I've had human interaction like this, last time was a hunt out in my hometown in a coffee shop, guess that's usually how I meet people. Falling in love at coffeeshop, geez, Carlos sure got it right."

He tried to ignore how the tone of her voice had changed, how her blue eyes had gone slightly glassy, indicating possible tears later on.

Before he realized what was happening, she had leaned in and kissed him lightly. Too shocked to react, Kendall closed his eyes before the thought crossed his mind – if this girl really was concerned about what happened to Katie and genuinely was trying to comfort him, she probably wouldn't be doing this.

When she pulled back, smiling sheepishly, avoiding his eyes and focusing on the screen.

As much as Kendall didn't want to do what he was going to, he knew it was something that had to be done.

"Look, Riley – I get you're missing human interaction and all that, but – I'm really under a lot of stress right now," he started before he was interrupted by her more-than-suggestive purr, "Which is exactly why you need to relax."

No. That was the last straw, and with that (on top of everything that had happened earlier), his emotions weren't going to be messed with anymore.

"I actually think it's better if you went home tonight." He finally said, trying not to sound as betrayed and angry as he felt.

"You sure you'll be-" she asked as she got up, looking over him with an 'are-you-sure' expression plastered to her face.

"I'm fine. I deal with stress easier if I'm alone. Just go, I'm okay." He repeated, motioning towards the door.

"Well, if you change your mind? You can call me if you wa-"

"I said Just. Go."

Riley tried not to grin at the tone he was using, to think it almost reminded her of the old days back when she'd bug William in his office while he was working – it really surprised her to draw the comparison.

"Goodnight then; Kendall. For your sake I hope the hunts are easy for a bit after this – you need downtime."

He nodded as she walked out the door to his apartment and shut it behind her, and when he finally heard her footsteps fading, he sat back down on the couch and put his hands in his hands.

How had this single hunt spiraled out of control so quickly?

"James? You okay? You don't sound so good."

"Logan, I did something bad today, something awful."

"James, what happened?"

"Can you just come over? Please? I need someone to talk to."

Logan glanced at Camille and Carlos. "Sure James, I'll be right over."

He hung up the phone. A few seconds later, his phone buzzed with an address.

"What's up?" Carlos asked.

"That was James. Apparently, he did something and needs to talk about it. You guys feel like taking a small side trip?"

Carlos and Camille looked at each other, but nodded nonetheless. Logan was able to use his phone to pull up a map and thankfully, the address was within walking distance. In a few moments, they arrived a small hotel, not unlike the one that Logan and Camille were staying at. The three of them walked and found the room where James was staying. Logan knocked on the door and from the other side, he could hear the sound of shuffling as someone approached the door. James opened the door and ushered the three of them in. He didn't even seem remotely surprised to see Carlos.

As soon as everyone walked in the room, they all noticed how messy it was. It was like a tornado had rolled through. Things were all in disarray and there were several broken glasses laying on the floor as well as a broken closet mirror. James himself didn't look much better. He looked like he had been crying and Logan could see scars on his fist where he had most likely punched the mirror in anger.

"James, what happened?" Logan asked as James sat down on the edge of the bed.

"I did something bad," he replied, his voice hoarse.

"How bad are we talking?"

"Something horrible. I hurt someone today that didn't even deserve it."

"James, it's okay. You can tell us," Camille said, putting her hand on his shoulder. Carlos stood by, unsure of what to do.

James took a deep breath. "It was Katie. I attacked Katie tonight."

It was silent for a moment before the entire room erupted in anger.

"You?! You're the one who attacked Katie?!" Carlos asked incredulously.

"What the fuck, man?! Why would you do something like that?" Logan asked, standing up.

James looked up at him, a sad look on his face. "Because I'm weak. Ever since I was turned into a vampire, I've become a slave to the hunger. I thought I had it under control, but in the end, it always comes back to that primal urge, that need to kill. I'm so sorry, guys."

"Sorry?! You're sorry?! I'll give you something to be sorry about!" Camille exclaimed, raising her wand.

"Do you really think that saying apologizing is going to make things any better?! Right now, Katie is laying in a hospital bed, fighting for her life, and all you can say is, you're sorry?! I can't believe you, man!" Carlos yelled.

It surprised everyone to hear Carlos raise his voice. He was normally pretty easygoing and never really got angry.

"I really mean it. I feel so bad about what I've done. I would take it back if I could, but…" James said, his voice trailing off.

"But you can't now, can you? Let me ask you something, James. You might feel bad, but how do you think Kendall felt? Huh?! How do you think he felt, standing in the emergency room, watching the doctors do everything they could do save his sister's life? How do you think he felt when he went through the EXACT same thing with Jo almost a year ago and then had to see the same thing happen to his little sister? Well?!" Carlos demanded.

James was truly at a loss for words. He was feeling so many different emotions right now. Anger, sadness, frustration. He didn't know what to do. Before he could say anything else, the door to the room opened and Riley stepped inside, stumbling slightly. James groaned internally. She was the absolute last person that he wanted to see right now.

"Hhhhiiiiii, what's going on, hey? Party here or what?" she asked, still giggling, setting her coat on the table.

She walked towards James, bitchface apparant as she looked over his knuckles, silently laughing at him once again punching mirrors.

"Oh honey, what'd that poor poor mirror do to ya? And ne'vemindin' the broken glass an' comp, you couldn'ta stayed home? Had to run off an' book a room to throw a fit in?"

As she walked past Logan, there was a familiar scent lingering about her. Logan recognized it almost immediately.

"It's nothing. We were just having a conversation, and I didn't want to mess up your vanity again," he replied, avoiding her gaze.

She leaned in and tried to kiss him and was surprised when he turned away.

"Babe, what's gotten into you?"

He almost glared up at her. "I think you of all people should know what's wrong."

"Aww, poor baby, are you feelin' bad after attackin' that girl? Don't worry, the guilt'll fade with age - not that shots don't help," she said, stroking his cheek affectionately, her other hand running a thumb across his knuckles.

Carlos, Logan, and Camille all exchanged glances.

"How did you know that he attacked anyone?" Carlos asked, choosing his words carefully.

"Nevermind that, are you drunk?" Logan wondered.

"Explains the southern twang in her speech and the incessant giggling," Camille added.

Riley smiled at them. "Isn't it obvious? I'm the one who planted the idea in his head in the first place! An' no I'm not drunk...kinda tipsy, s'all. Tequila does that."


	15. Chapter 15

Everyone stared at her, dumbfounded.

Shrugging, she continued, "See, he was just so stressed out over seein' you guys again, I told him he should have a little fun. You shoulda seen him when he first came back, before alla nasty guilt set in an' he took off for here. He definitely wasn't feelin' any pain, though I can't say the same for the girl he 'tacked."

*flashback*

After leaving Kendall's, Riley decided to head back home just to check in on James, as she figured he was going to be pretty torn up after going after Katie.

Walking into the kitchen, she found James paging through an old photo album from when the boys had still been a band, and she noticed a few of the pictures had the girl he'd no doubt attacked in them.

"You're smart enough to not have killed her, James. Just scared her a bit, probably" she offered, pulling the chair out to sit down.

"It was wrong and I knew it, and I did it anyways. How do you live with yourself after just-"

She put a finger against his lips, leaning up to kiss his forehead.

"Sshh. First of all - you learn not to think about it - that's where it gets tricky."

"You can't tell me not to think about it! That's cra-"

"Would you rather I ask how you feel? Seeing I never got the same cortesy to explore my feelings after sprees or sporadic attacks, it's an interesting topic of conversation from a standpoint of someone that doesn't remember the first one she'd ever done." Riley tried, rolling her eyes, kicking her feeet up on the chair across from her under the table.

He stood up and walked over to the counter, grabbing a shotglass out of one of the cabinets before reaching for one of the few bottles in the apartment he'd never let her touch (and why should she, tequila like that could knock her flat on her ass in three shots), and after this grabbed a blood bag from the fridge, and proceeded to pour it and not two, not three, but six shots of patron into the glass.

Riley rose an eyebrow as he downed the glass in one go, clearly judging the lack of lime and salt.

"Probably would've been better with a lime wedge, just saying. Rock salt wouldn't hurt, either. I mean, blood's got salt in it, but all you're doing is ruining your palette."

He slammed the glass down and narrowed his eyes, hoping that'd been enough of a dose to help forget what'd happened. Or maybe he'd just drink it straight next time...

"That's kind of what I'm trying to do. You know, why don't you drink with me? It's not like you don't know how."

Her eyes wandered from the photo album to the shotglass still in his left hand, then to the bottle on the table.

"Oh come on Jamesy! You can't fucking drink it away! This. Is. WHAT. YOU. ARE! But fine, I'll have a shot - you know my limit."

He grinned, reaching for the bottle as she held out her hand for the glass. Setting it down, she walked to the fridge, grabbing the bag of lime wedges, then the small container of rock salt from the shelf below the shotglasses.

"Just this once, if it'll make you feel better."

And although she'd said one shot, James managed to talk her into three more, knowing exactly what would happen after the third.

When Riley's chatter over not letting the guilt get to him finally slowed off into a series of childlike giggles, he knew the wall was about to be ran into.

"I feel way better about the whole thing now, love. Now, I'm going out for a bit, to talk to some friends, ok? I want you to stay here and sleep, you know what tequila does to you."

"Yeah, makes me wanna-" she began before she giggled again, setting a hand on James' cheek before he set her down on their bed, sighing with relief at her not being able to interrupt the conversation he was going to have with Logan later on.

But first, he needed to find somewhere to meet. When he finally found a hotel, he booked a room and from there decided to call Logan, trying to block out the reverberating echo of Katie's scream in his head.

*end flashback*

"That's because I was numb." James added.

"You bitch! I can't believe you would do something like that!" Camille exclaimed.

Riley stood up and walked towards Camille, somehow managing to not stumble this time. The two of them stared each other down.

"Yanna, you humans are so funny, worryin' about what's right an' what's wrong alla time. You spend so much of your time worryin', you barely have time to live, an' then before you know it, you're dead. Me? I've played by my own rules for the last hundred years an' let me tell you, there is nothin' more liberatin'."

"Yeah, well at least I still have my dignity left. After a hundred years, can't say the same for you," Camille retorted.

Riley hissed and bared her fangs. Camille barely flinched. Riley took another step closer to Camille. She reached out and brushed her hand across Camille's cheek before trailing it down her neck and chest. When she heard Logan growl beside her, she turned to look at him and smirked.

"Aww poor puppy. You don't like me touchin' your mate like that, do ya? What're'ya gonna do 'bout it? In fact," she said as her hand shot out and grabbed Camille by the throat, "I don't think there's much you can do! I could crush her windpipe 'fore you could even try and stop me, an' 'fore she could even open her mouth to use a spell! Fun!"

"Well, it's a good thing that you don't always need words to cast a spell," Camille choked out. With a flick of her wand, she sent out a blast from her wand that knocked Riley back a few steps (and of course in her current state, she stumbled back a few more) and allowed her to breathe again. She gasped for breath.

Before Riley could do anything else, James spoke up.

"Riley, that's enough. Leave them alone."

She immeditly turned to look at him, tilting her head like she hadn't quite heard that right.

"I said leave them alone." he repeated, and with another giggle her eyes were cast downward in mock-shame.

"Aw, I'm just havin' some fun, but fine, if you insist."

She walked over and sat next to James on the bed, not bothering to pay attention to anyone else. Everyone else took that as their cue to leave. As they got to the door, Logan turned around and looked at James.

"You know, James, I hope you realize that once Kendall finds out what you've done, he is going to hunt you to the ends of the earth because of it. And you know what else? I don't blame him, and I don't feel sorry for you!"

With that, he slammed the door behind him and the three of them Apparated back to the hotel.

Everyone was truly exhausted. Camille excused herself so that she could go get ready for bed. After hearing the door close and the water start to run, Carlos looked at Logan.

"Hey Logan, did you really mean what you said back there? About Kendall hunting James?"

Logan's face was serious.

"Absolutely. I guess I just don't buy into that whole 'slave to the hunger' thing. Like, I had to learn to control myself and my transformations over the last 200 years, so that's no excuse. Plus, it's Katie, man! She was practically our little sister too. I don't know. I guess I'm just pissed off in general. And then," he continued, lowering his voice enough so that Carlos had to lean in to hear him, "I hated seeing his stupid girlfriend put her grimy hands all over Camille. I should have killed her right then and there, and believe me, the next time that happens, I won't be so lenient"

It kind of scared Carlos to see Logan like this. Normally, he was the nice guy.

Once Camille came out of the bathroom, Carlos got ready for bed and Logan did the same. Logan and Camille shared one bed while Carlos had his own.

"So guys, what do we do now?" Carlos asked

Logan shrugged. "I guess all we can do now is just hope that this doesn't get any worse and hope that Katie gets out of the hospital."

"Sounds good to me. Good night, guys," Carlos said, rolling over on his other side.

"Good night," they both replied. Camille flicked the lights off with her wand and snuggled next to Logan, who draped his arm over her torso protectively. In a few moments, the three tired teens drifted off to sleep.


	16. Chapter 16

Back at the motel, sometime after the other three had left, the realization of what Logan had said had finally hit James.

Well - not that it hadn't hit him before, but now that sense of danger seemed...to be looming closer? That wasn't the right word, but the feeling definitely was there.

Riley, meanwhile, had resumed pacing between the beds, in part from boredom and adrenalin - she'd really wanted to get into an actual fight for once.

"Would you stop that? You're going to hurt yourself."

"Right, like a little shard of glass from a broken mirror is actually going to cause substantial pain," she replied, still not looking at him.

It'd been twenty minutes she'd been pacing so far, just waiting for him to same something first. Needless to say, the first thing out of his mouth wasn't what she expected.

Deciding to sit down, she sat across from him on the other bed, still taking in the sight of the room. As her gaze drifts to the headboard, she can't help a giggle, brought on by stupid wanna-be vampire romance books with a pathetic vampire/human relationship.

"So." she started, debating how she wanted the whole next part to sound, "You know I came home after you attacked the girl, but - don't you wonder where I was before that? You must have seen wolf boy's face when I walked in, it's fun to see them react when they recognize a scent."

At this she smiled, it inching across her face in a way that managed to make him slightly nervous, like she was hiding something.

"And what's there for him to recognize?" he pressed, not expecting her to move at his words, dropping to kneel in front of him, hands resting on his knees.

She brushed her hair back to one side of her neck, leaning up slightly so that icy blue eyes were gazing through thick lashes into hazel.

"Riley – get up, please. I don't like you like this, it's too-"

"Playful? Teasing? I almost wish I'd been like this, would've been interesting to see…"

"Don't be so vague and talk in circles. What do you mean?"

"Don't see you trying to stop me, Diamond." Damn, you'd think she was just trying to press buttons.

Still edgy from the confrontation with the others, he's in no mood to take her sarcasm, so in one swift movement he's pulled her up on top of him onto his lap, lips interlocked, her legs once again locking around him.

"Oh? Do you always channel your anger like this? Seems like it." She mused, one of his hands pulling at her hair as she reached for his shirt, oh how she loved to get him worked up like this.

"Answer me!" He growled, flipping her shirt over her head just as quickly, afterwards grabbing her hands to pull them above her head, moving so that they were lying down on the bed she'd been sitting on, he straddling her, eyes narrowed at her reply.

"Mhm- why? It's only a game, love."

"Game?" He was confused, she just wasn't making sense.

"I'm a vampire, looking for a little fun. You and I both know there's people out there after us…and wolf boy used to know one too."

"So? Vampire hunters are-"

He paused, realizing all too suddenly what she'd meant by that.

"Lightbulb?" She giggled, struggling slightly against him, trying to sit up while forever regretting clasping the bra on the third tier instead of the first.

He didn't want to react, didn't want to acknowledge her point. Getting off her with an angry sigh, he stood up and looked around the room – yeah, the main mirror by the TV was busted, but the bathroom one wasn't.

Yet.

Riley cringed at the sound of glass shattering from the next room, the muffled string of curses making her roll her eyes.

"Gonna have to pay for that!" she called, wishing the buzz hadn't faded quite yet. If she was atleast tipsy she could use that as an excuse so he wouldn't be as mad – I mean, it wasn't like she'd done anything anyways with Kendall.

Sitting up and swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, she stood up and shimmed out of her skirt, leaving her only in underwear with the intent of leave little doubt to James that anything had happened.

Walking over to the bathroom, she tsked at the sight of him clutching the sink, one hand with fresh cuts on it, shards of glass in the sink.

"Now will you stop that? You're gonna hurt yourself." She teased, ducking under one of his arms and turning to face him, the small of her back against the sink.

"Look. I get that can make you mad, it's infidelity after all; but honestly he kicked me out. Like, I literally kissed his cheek and he had a full blown you-need-to-leave thing," she explained, glossing over the fact it hadn't exactly been his cheek.

"But why? I thought- that you'd moved on, forgot about William or whoever your old sire was, and was atleast – I thought you were happy with me. And you just go off to sleep with a HUNTER?!"

"Told you, danger aspect. Immortality gets boring." She deadpanned, lowering her head before she added, almost apologetically, "I mean, yeah, I'm happy with you, it's just-"

"Just. What?" He snapped, unable to keep the hurt from his voice.

"I need a little more danger – my life's becoming static with you, well; routine, it's why I wanted you to go after Katie, to lead Kendall on like this – my part was just distracting him, so he doesn't think I'm involved in anything. Of course now he's going to come after us, but I know by then I'll be able to handle whatever."

"You do realize Logan and Carlos are probably going to tell him exactly what happened, that whole conversation tonight, right?"

She laughed, leaning up to kiss him, although he froze the second their lips touched.

"Oh, they won't. I'll make sure of that. It'd be a little too easy to kill the witch if they did say anything. We have nothing to worry about, Jamesy. Nothing."

And with that, she slipped back out of his arms and back into the main room, pulling down the covers of one of the beds.

"Now, come on – we need to be out of here early enough so that we don't run into trouble, we'll leave enough cash to cover everything. I hope you didn't leave much contact –"

"Yeah, Supernatural route, got it – only they have my name and an old cell number."

Riley actually smiled, "Fair enough. And I mean, I know you're mad still, but nothing happened, I promise. I just think to be completely fair you should vent – and how you were channeling it earlier seemed to be working."

"I swear to god if you even think you're going to talk me into make-up sex you're completely-"

Too late. She'd already disappeared beneath the covers, a few seconds later both said bra and underwear had been thrown, landing on top of the other bed, pink tongue running across chapped lips as she crooked a finger, beckoning him forward from the doorway of the bathroom.

"So this bed is actually pretty comfy. Wanna try?"


	17. Chapter 17

The next day, when Kendall found time to keep himself from worrying about Katie, he thought about the entire situation, really thought about it.

Yeah, she'd been attacked by a vampire - but she was the techie guide of a hunter, one who was country-renowned at that. She knew how to kill when it was called for, and being attacked certainly qualified.

So why hadn't she?

He reasoned it have to have been an anomaly, a reason why this vampire was given the chance to get close enough to attack her - and given Katie's ease of trusting those around her age, it was plausible that the vampire was in fact attending school with her.

But then the thought struck him, Katie had always gotten along with the older girls - when she was a freshman, she'd be hanging out with juniors - meaning it was completely possible an older girl had gained her trust and been responsible.

Older girl...one Katie thought she could trust...

Pacing the living room now, he ran a hand through his hair, thinking back to the night before.

How she'd seemed so calm with what happened to Katie, how she'd tried to take advantage of his grief. How she knew more about the hunter lifestyle than she was clearly letting on. Her reluctance to enter the room until invited in.

By now, Kendall was almost positive that Riley was responsible for the attack on Katie, she fit the profile all too well, and the signs of her vampirism were there in plain sight. Still, he didn't want to rush things - he needed to go about it like a normal hunt, except he had to be even more careful than usual due to the fact that another one of his friends knew the object of said hunt.

How to go about it, then? Invite her back over for dinner, of course. And make sure there was garlic.

As soon as Carlos, Logan and Camille had woken up and gotten breakfast in the hotel's main dining room, the day seemed to brighten up, being it'd been rainy and overcast-y the moment the shades were moved.

"So what do we do now?" Camille asked, finally putting her fork down after a plate full of eggs and pancakes.

"About?" Logan wondered, not wanting to even think about the scene from the night before.

"Last night. Do we tell Kendall we know who attacked Katie and risk him going after James, or do we just hope he figures it out so we don't feel guilty if James does end up dead?"

"Either way he's finding out." Carlos pointed out, before his phone buzzed with a text.

"Speak of the devil."

So I know who attacked Katie. The redhead you and I met at the coffeeshop. She's around Katie's age, can't be older than 20, seems like someone she could trust, must've got her guard down and went for the bite. And I'm stupid too, I had her over last night and she pretty much wanted to sleep with me. This ends tonight, I'm killing her.

"Shit. Guys, this isn't good. He thinks - Kendall thinks Riley's the one that attacked Katie."

Camille actually laughed.

"Well, it was her idea, you heard her last night. Serves her right if Kendall's going to go after her."

"Yeah, I mean I guess. There's too many people involved for this to end well." Logan said, looking over everyone's empty plates before Carlos added something to the effect that there really wasn't at all.

"I mean, Kendall only knows I'm here, I didn't tell him you and Camille came along. And then Kendall knows about Riley, but it's doubtable he's even aware James is back in Minnesota, let alone a vampire. And James knows the three of us are here, and that Kendall is based here. More complicated than it sounds, but from different sides, not everyone's involved."

"Do we even want everyone involved during this?"

Camille shrugged, "Probably not. Since Kendall only knows Carlos is here at this point, let's keep it that way until something major happens."

"Major how?"

"First point? Him going after James."

"Deal. I think I'm gonna call him anyway, I really wanna know how he figured out it was her so quickly. You guys have any plans in mind for today?" Carlos started, getting up and setting his phone to the dial screen.

"Not really."

Everyone laughed.

"Wait. We could mention James - I mean, not really mention him. Just saying Riley has a boyfriend - be like, you ran into them when you went out for a drink or something when you first got into town. We know he wants revenge for what James did to Katie, even though he doesn't know that's who it really was, maybe knowing somebody else'll feel like he did might make him feel better?"

"It's worth a shot."

And as he hit the call button, the three of them walked out of the dining room, intent on finding something interesting to do for the day.

"Hey, what's up?" Kendall said as soon as he picked up Carlos' call, already feeling the conversation was going to be about how quick he figured out the attacker's identity.

"I'm just surprised you're sure it's the girl. I mean, I ran into her too, actually ran into her and her boyfriend when I went out one night," Carlos explained, causing Kendall to almost snort in denial at the statement.

"Wait a minute, you're telling me she has a boyfriend? Wonder if he's aware of the shit she pulled last night...if I were him I'd be pissed, but yeah, I'm sure it's her. Now I just have to corner her and finish the job."

"How are you going to do that?"

"Dinner. I'm going to invite her over again, for Italian, you know vampires, they can't stand garlic. And then, after that's affecting her, track the GPS on her phone, let her leave, ambush her on the way home. It'll be too easy."

"Aren't you worried that-"

"What, like the boyfriend's going to be involved? I don't think so, she looks too young to have sired anyone - if he'd been the one to turn her I'd think she know better than to piss him off by running off to a hunter, y'know? If he's human like I'm pretty sure he is, best he could do if he shows up is pull the stake out, not that that'd do any good." Kendall replied, actually smiling at the thought of this all ending with rightful revenge.

"Well, good luck with it, I guess? I'm not sure what I'm doing today, you busy?"

Kendall laughed, "Good luck with finding something to do. I'll call you after this is all done? I'm gonna be busy for most of the night I think."

"Gotcha. Talk to you later!"

Kendall hit the end call button and grinned. Knowing that Riley had a boyfriend involved was going to make this revenge all the more sweet - he was going to get the opportunity to feel how Kendall had felt with the news of Katie's attack - only this time, there wasn't going to be a hopeful recovery for the vampire.


	18. Chapter 18

When James and Riley headed back home, it was quiet - after the entire ordeal yesterday, neither really wanted to talk much. Walking back into the kitchen, the counter still looked like a bar top.

"Look. I'm sorry, okay? I get you're mad-" RIley started, reaching to open the cabinet above her head to put stuff away before James cut her off, "It's not that I'm mad, I'm just a little worried with you willingly putting yourself in danger. Pissing off a hunter like Kendall isn't going to be in your best interest."

She rolled her eyes, turning to jump up on the counter so she could sit up higher.

"If you didn't want to piss him off you probably shouldn't've gone after Katie, hun. But still - screwing with his head is the point. He probably thought she was safe just because he's one of the world's best hunters - I just showed him otherwise. Well, you did, but yeah. And besides...he kind of needs to find out what you are, anyways."

"Couldn't we have just, I don't know - called him and told him then? None of this whole getting ourselves killed over this?"

She grinned, shaking her head.

"But Jamesy, where's the fun in that?"

As he was about to reply however, her phone went off in the other room, and she ran to answer it, not even bothering to look at the number.

"Hello?"

"Riley? It's Kendall...I'm sorry about how I was acting the other night, I was just so stressed out and needed to step back and take some time for myself. My sister's doing a little better, and I think I know the vampire that may have attacked her. If you wanted, you could come over tonight and I could run this hunt past you, maybe you could help?"

"Oh, geez - I'm surprised you're calling, I mean, usually when that happens, things don't- but I mean-I'm not doing anything tonight, so I guess I could stop over. I can bring food again if you want, if that's okay."

"Would you accept the apology if I cooked dinner for us? I've been meaning to get into the kitchen more, and this is the perfect opportunity."

Turning to look around to make sure James wasn't about to walk in on the remainder of the conversation, she nodded although she knew Kendall couldn't see.

"That's perfect. What time tonight?"

"Around 8 okay?"

"Fine with me. See you then."

Hanging up, Riley grinned. She'd gotten a second chance after all.

"Hey hun, I'm going out for a bit, one of my friends invited me over for dinner and just wants to chill for a bit." Riley lied, not exactly mentioning who said friend was. And before James could ask anymore, she added, "There's wedding magazines and makeup talk involved, I doubt you'd want to join," to further convince him it literally was nothing to worry about before giggling at the face he'd made.

James only shook his head.

"You have fun, just make sure your phone is on incase anything happens."

"I will, don't worry. I'll be fine." Not

By the time Kendall heard the buzzer to the apartment, dinner was almost finished, all that was left was to plate everything.

Running to open the door, he wasn't surprised to see the redhead hadn't bothered dressing up, at best guess this was because she didn't want the boyfriend knowing she was going to see him.

"Hope you like Italian." he stated as she set her stuff down on the nearby coffeetable, her head snapping up at the mention of food.

"I love pasta and tiramisu and gelato, so yeah, Italian's great! I'm just a little weird when it comes to eating it, that's all."

Ah ha.

"How so?"

She shrugged, "Some of the spices they use make me sick, I guess. The really spicy stuff, shrimp diavolo, some types of meatballs - anything with garlic, for one. I'm probably allergic, and that sucks because I'm never allowed to have mozzarella garlic bread and it always looks so good," she explained.

"Good thing there's none of it tonight then. All this talk of the different hunts and vampires actually has me avoiding garlic myself, except when I'm on hunts." As long as she couldn't tell he was lying, this was going to work out great. He only needed her to eat enough so that the garlic would make her sick, the way he could grab her phone and work some magic.

"So about this hunt, you were saying you think you know who attacked your sister?" She asked before looking around, realizing he'd actually appeared to have cleaned somewhat from the last time she'd shown up.

"Yeah, and I can tell you more after we eat. It's ready now though, do you want me to make you a plate, or-"

"If you want, go ahead. You going to get weird if I turn on the TV? I'm weird, I kinda like to have background noise when I eat."

Turning to look at her, Kendall smiled, "Trust me, it's fine. I've met weirder girls than you."

Ten minutes later and Riley had dug into the spaghetti carbonara he'd made, realizing this was the first time she'd had some form of the dish that wasn't at a Bucca di Beppo's.

"Pancetta or bacon, just curious." She asked, still not quite able to tell the difference (well there wasn't much, pancetta really was just Italian bacon in a sense).

"Pancetta. Wanted to keep it authentic, y'know? Could've added capers but those are a bit of an acquired taste. Hey, you alright?"

Her face had paled, but then again, she'd been pale to begin with. Looking over the half plate she had left, she set her fork down and then looked at him again.

"You sure there wasn't garlic in this? Doesn't have to be much to get me sick, but then again, who were you to know it'd make me sick? I mean I'd feel terrible, you went through all the trouble to make this only to have me not eat it - I mean I guess I'd rather eat this, because it is really good and handle a little bit of a bug rather than waste the time you spent on this. I mean, it's not like getting sick from drinking, that's a different story all together."

"So you'd rather continue eating this and get sick even if it has garlic in it than just have me order Chinese or something, that's what you're saying?"

"Pretty much. I'd feel guilty if I didn't. And I mean - I swear I can smell garlic bread. And you know what, fuck my allergies, it's not like I'm gonna die from anaphylactic shock. Only thing'll happen is I'll just have my head halfway down th-"

"Alright, alright, fine, if you really want to wreck tonight I guess I can go grab you a piece. Are you sure?"

"Oh come on, it's not like I've got anything else to do! And besides, you have that case you can work on if I get myself into trouble. I won't eat the whole thing, that should lessen how much damage it does."

"If you insist."

True to her word, forty-five minutes later and Riley had locked herself in the bathroom - citing that, so, yeah, maybe it had been a bad idea. Only thing was - being she was immortal and technically undead, she didn't actually have to throw up, the extent of garlic making her sick was a migraine headache and a stomach ache that was manageable at best.

But it's not like she's going to willingly let a vampire hunter know she's not human.

"I can't believe I'm going to do this..." she mumbled to her reflection, kneeling in front of the toilet, really really wishing she hadn't gotten herself into the situation she was in.

Next best thing to being human and throwing up was being dead and throwing up on command - nothing triggering the gag reflex wasn't going to do, like those teenagers that had developed eating disorders.

Scoffing at the thought of who would choose to erode their life that way, she hesitantly lifted a hand and counted to ten, closing her eyes.

And the next thing she knew, her throat burned.

The minute Riley had headed to the bathroom, Kendall knew the plan was all coming together well - the fact that she'd been persistent in wanting to eat garlic bread, of all things, had guaranteed it.

When he heard the door shut, he walked over to her stuff and found her phone with ease. Slipping it out of the case and taking the back off, he took out the battery and looked for the sim card, taking note of the number on it. On his own phone, he opened the GPS locator app and typed in the sim card number, and within five seconds there was a little blip on the screen displaying the location of the other phone.

Kendall grinned, this had been way too easy.

Putting the battery, back and case back into place, he fired up the phone and waited for it to load, opening a text message when it did.

He was going to make sure her boyfriend felt at least somewhat how he felt when he found Katie.

Scrolling through her contacts, he found one with an odd nickname, 'Bae'. Knowing this was often girlcode for said boyfriend, he clicked on the name and began to type a short message.

'if you get this, it's not Riley. She's in a bit of a situation right now, and can't reply to this. Of course you'll be able to see her, that is, if you can find her before she's gone. This is payback, so enjoy.'

Sending it, he erased the message from the sent box right away, because he'd heard the sink turn on.

Setting her phone back down on the table, he looked up when she walked out of the bathroom.

"You okay?"

She shrugged, "I guess. I think I'd better go home though, I have a bit of a headache, too and like you said, I kinda wrecked tonight already."

He nodded, "If that's what you want. I thought I heard your phone go off so I grabbed it for you, but it was nothing. Want me to walk you out?"

Picking up her phone and putting it in the pocket of her jeans, she smiled, "I can see myself out, I'm fine, thanks. And thank you for dinner, Kendall. Even if I got sick, but that's my fault for being persistent."

He put a hand on her shoulder as she went to open the door, she visibly flinched, startled.

"Just text me when you're home? I just wanna make sure you're ok, Riley."

"Alright. Talk to you later."

And then she was gone, down the stairs. Kendall couldn't wait to finish the hunt. He'd give her a head start, but then, once there was some decent space her could corner her in, he'd jump at it.


	19. Chapter 19

When Kendall had sent the text to James (although Kendall hadn't known it was him at the time), he hadn't heard his phone go off, being he'd been in the shower.

Walking back into his and Riley's room, he finds it odd that it's blinking with a message - but then remembers, he'd told Riley to keep her phone on in case something went wrong.

Opening it up and reading it, he can feel the panic starting to set in as he reads it through a second time.

Fuck. Kendall figured it out.

Immediately calling Logan (and nearly having a heart attack when he actually picked up despite the argument), he sputtered and stuttered over the news.

"James, just calm down. How do you know it's Kendall, anyways? And how'd he get Riley's phone?"

"He said it was payback, Logan! And she said she was going out with a friend - well she lied, obviously. I don't want to know how he got it, I just know she's in trouble."

"Good." He heard Camille add from the other line.

"Have you tried calling her and seeing where she is?"

"No...I probably should. Hang on," opening up a three way on the menu, he dialed Riley's number, relieved with she picked up.

"Jamesy? What the- I'm heading home now...I'm not feeling too well, dinner tonight - there was garlic and I just- I just want a dark room and one of your hands running through my hair," she explained, though she sounded nervous.

"Are you okay? I got a text from your phone earlier..."

"Honey why wouldn't I be? I'm just a little sick."

"See she's fine." Logan said.

"Wait, why's Logan on the other line? Is this a threeway? On cellphones? What the-"

"Just get home as fast as you can, please. Actually, can we meet somewhere? I'd rather be with you."

"James, what the hell has gotten into you? I'm fine. And yeah, why not that back alley after the first fight? I can take a shortcut through the park, by the woods."

"That's fine, love. I'll meet you there." When she hung up, James continued.

"I just have a really bad feeling about this, Logan. Can you go with me to meet her? I just want to make sure she'll be okay."

"Alright, if you'll shut up about it, I'll go. She's fine, I'll prove it."

Nodding as Logan hung up, James grabbed a hoodie and tried not to think about how he might find her when he finally met her.

After talking to James, who clearly was worried for some reason, Riley checked her messages - he'd said she'd gotten a text from her, but yet there was no message in her sent box.

What the hell was going on?

Stopping mid-step, she looked around. It was dark out, and the streetlights were on. No one else seemed to be around, but she still felt like she was being watched.

"Hello? Anyone there?" she called, eyes darting from building to building. No answer.

Until there was a low laugh from the shadows.

"You really should always keep your phone with you. Never know who could track it."

"Who are you?!" Walking backwards to see behind her, Riley automatically gulped, having a bad feeling she already knew who it was.

"The reason creatures like you aren't common in this town," Kendall replied, twirling a stake in his right hand.

Riley took off into a run the moment she snapped out of the deer in the headlights haze the sight of the stake had put her into, knowing what it meant.

And Kendall all too gladly followed.

Kendall almost laughed out loud. For being an immortal creature, Riley certainly reverted back to the human-like habit of running away almost instantly. Feeling again for the weapons in his pocket, he broke into a jog and ran after Riley, who seemed surprised that he could keep up with her.

As they ran through the city, she tried many different tactics to try to lose him, including ducking down various alleys, cutting through parks, and taking as many turns as she could. No matter what though, she just couldn't shake him. Eventually, they passed the city limits and came across a large forest. The sun had already set. As Riley ran into the forest, she smirked. Kendall's hunting abilities might have bordered on supernatural, but he was still fully human, meaning that he wouldn't be able to see in the pitch black forest.

She ran down a path and quickly began to take off her jacket and shoes. Throwing them in one direction, she doubled back and ran down a different path. Looking around, all of the trees she saw had no branches that were low enough to climb, so she would have to settle for hiding. She dove behind a cluster of bushes and waited.

Soon enough, she could hear his footsteps crunching through the leaves that littered the ground. How had he managed to find her? It made no sense! As he approached the area where she lay hidden, she noticed that he was humming a melody, but not just any song. It was, of course, a Big Time Rush song.

"Come on, Riley. Just give it up. I obviously know what you are. There's really nowhere left for you to go, so why don't you just come out?"

She sighed, somewhat annoyed at how quickly the fun had ended, though she still stayed put.

"You've made this no fun...you're one hell of a tracker, but I don't go down that easily. I've held my own against entire teams - you think you're going to do any damage alone? We might as well delay this as long as we can - I've got someone looking for me, as I'm sure you know. That little trick you played with my phone was neat, sending a text and then deleting it so I wouldn't notice."

Her tone was tinged slightly - almost as though she was congratulating him.

He moved automatically to the sound of her voice, spinning around when he heard her take off in the other direction to try to put some space between them. Following after her again, he smiled.

"Right, so I wanted him looking for you - not like he's going to be able to do anything anyways. Best he could do is try to pull the stake out before you disintegrate."

In the dark, she pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow in an 'oh really?' even though she knew Kendall couldn't see. That was the first mistake he'd made - assuming her boyfriend was human.

"That's what you think. When he finds you, he is going to rip you to shreds!" she exclaimed

When Kendall didn't respond, Riley stopped and spun around. Straining her ears, she noticed that the forest was oddly silent. She couldn't even sense where he was. She began to walk backwards very slowly, taking in every detail of the forest, lest he try to sneak up on her. In fact, she was too busy focusing on what was in front of her that she forgot to look where she was walking. As she backed up even more, she tripped on something, which sent her crashing to the forest floor. Before she could get up, she heard the sound of a gun being fired off, and felt a burning pain radiate throughout her entire body. The pain was so intense that she couldn't help but scream.

"Aww, what's wrong? Does the poor little vampire not like my UV light bullets?" Kendall sneered

"H-H-How? How could you sneak up on me like that?!" Riley demanded, gritting her teeth to avoid screaming again

"Well, when you're the best in the business, honey, you get pretty good at hiding from creatures like you," Kendall said as he walked closer and knelt down next to her.

Riley immediately tried to swipe at him. Kendall countered and grabbed her wrist, bending it back to the breaking point. She again howled in pain.

"That was for my sister."

Riley raised her eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"You know, it's pretty convenient, isn't it? I meet you, and then my sister gets attacked by a vampire. Just tell me why you did it, and I might show you mercy."

"I have no idea what you're talking about! I didn't do anything!"

She winced when she felt another bullet enter her body.

"Now come on, Riley. How many times are you going to use that same tired excuse? I know you did it, so just fess up. And you uh, might want to hurry, otherwise those UV bullets will burn you to a nice little crisp from the inside out."

Riley managed to shove Kendall out of the way and tried to crawl after him, but the pain in her body was too much to bear, and she could hardly move.

Sensing that her time was almost up, Kendall readied the stake in his hand. As he raised his hand to deliver the fatal blow, something came barreling into him from the side, knocking him to the forest floor.

He looked up at his assailant, shocked to find a familiar face staring back at him.

"James?"

James had met Logan, Camille, and Carlos in front of their hotel and the three had set off.

"So, do you know where she is right now?" Carlos asked

James shook his head. "Not really, but I figure that since she was the one who turned me, we have a pretty close connection, so I should be able to find her. I just hope that Kendall didn't find her first."

The four of them walked the rest of the way in silence. When they arrived at a nondescript alley, James looked around, but there was no one there.

"It looks like there's no one here," Camille said.

"Don't you think I know that?!" James exclaimed, wheeling around to face Camille

Logan instinctively stepped in front of her. "James, calm down, I'm sure there's a very good reason why she isn't here yet. Let's keep looking. Where else would she be?"

James thought for a moment.

"Well, she said she was going to take a shortcut, through the woods on the edge of town, so let's go there. It's not too far from here."

The four of them kept walking. About 10 minutes later, they arrived at a small forest. James' nose immediately recognized a familiar scent, but there was also a huge amount of fear that he could smell. Without warning, James took off running into the pitch black forest. Carlos was about to run after him until Logan reached out and grabbed his arm.

"Wait! Don't just go running off. I don't need the three of us getting separated. We have to stick together."

Carlos nodded, and soon, he fell into step behind Logan and Camille. The farther that they walked into the forest, the more that Logan could smell fear. Whatever was in here, it was scared. In fact, it was downright terrified.

Abruptly, Logan came to a stop. His ears perked up, and he heard the sound of gunfire resounding around the entire forest with a pop. He held out his hand for everyone to stop. He inhaled deeply.

"What do you smell, Logan?" Camille asked

"Blood, and someone just fired off a gun. I have a feeling we're not alone in these woods. Keep your wand out, just in case," he said as he continued walking.

Camille nodded and pulled out her wand and followed behind them.

"Can you smell James or Riley at all?" Carlos wondered

Logan took another inhale.

"Yes, I can. And, wait a minute, I can smell someone else. And it almost smells like….oh crap, we've got to go!" Logan exclaimed as the realization dawned on him of who else was in these woods. He took off running with Camille and Carlos not far behind him.

Soon, they reached a small path, and what they saw was absolutely horrifying. Laying on the ground was Riley. She was covered in blood and was even paler than normal. But that wasn't even the worse part. Not far from where Riley lay were James and Kendall. James was pinning Kendall to a nearby tree by his throat.

Kendall was shocked, to say the least. Here, in front of him, was one of his best friends whom he hadn't seen in almost 5 years, yet he looked no different than the last time that Kendall had seen him. The only thing that was really different was the cold hatred in James' eyes.

"Get your hands off of my mate and drop the stake," James said, his voice cold.

"James? I don't get it. Why are you here? How do you know Riley? And what do you mean, mate?"

"I think you know exactly what I mean, Kendall. Now, drop the stake," he replied, enunciating every word.

Having no other choice, Kendall let the stake drop from his hands, and James got off of him. Before he could even breathe, however, he found himself pinned to the tree, by his throat.

"James, what's gotten into you?" Kendall choked out, struggling to breathe

"You'd be surprised just how much a person can change in five years, Kendall," James replied, making sure to deliberately pronounce each word so that Kendall would catch a glimpse of his fangs.

When he saw them, his eyes widened.

"What's wrong, Kendall? Don't like what you see?" he taunted

"You…you're a monster now!"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. Ah now, don't go trying to reach for that stake in your pocket. I'm not quite done talking to you yet," James said, grabbing Kendall's wrist with his free hand and squeezing it, delighting in the grimace of pain that worked its way across Kendall's normally stoic features.

"You know, it's funny, even after all these years, I never realized how much she looks like you. She's got the same defiant look in her eyes, the same facial structure. Amazing."

"Who are you talking about?" Kendall asked, groaning in pain

James chuckled. "I'm talking about Katie of course. She looks just like you!"

"You've seen Katie? When?"

Again James laughed. "Just the other day. She was walking home from school. Unlike you though, she was actually happy to see me."

"But…the other day, she was….you! You did that to her?!" Kendall asked angrily as he realized what James was implying

James smiled. "Oh yes, I did. And I can't even begin to describe how delicious her blood was. So sweet and pure. It was absolutely divine."

Kendall growled and struggled against James, who was using his full force to keep Kendall pinned to the tree. Taking his free hand that wasn't broken, Kendall snuck his hand under James' arm and thrust his palm upward, satisfied when he heard the bones in his nose break. This caused James to release his hold on Kendall as he stumbled backwards. Neither of them seemed to notice Logan and the others, who were standing back, unsure of what to do.

Without warning, Kendall lunged for James, who easily dodged him. He brought his leg down, intending to break Kendall's back, but the vampire hunter was too smart for that. He crouched down and launched himself at James, tackling him to the ground.

"You fucking monster! You were the one who hurt Katie!"

"Wow Kendall, still as sharp as a tack, I see. Nothing gets past you!" James said sarcastically

"I'm going to kill you, you son of a bitch!" Kendall declared as the two of them grappled. From the years of training he had undergone, Kendall was able to hold his own fairly well. Eventually, Kendall had James pinned to the ground and was struggling to drive a stake into his heart. The pointed spike was pressing against James' chest.

"Logan, you've gotta do something!" Carlos exclaimed

Logan looked at Camille and Carlos and nodded. Pushing off of the ground with his strong legs, he ran at Kendall and tackled him off of James.

"Kendall, stop!" he yelled, pinning him to the ground, his knee driving into Kendall's back

Kendall didn't say anything, instead trying to focus on wriggling out of Logan's grasp, but Logan refused to let go. He had both of Kendall's arms pinned behind his back. He dragged Kendall up to a standing position and turned around back to where Camille and Carlos were standing, talking. As he walked away, he turned and looked at James with a cold fury in his eyes.

"One day, you will pay for what you've done, James. There is a reckoning coming. This isn't over," he said somberly.

He turned away and marched Kendall back towards where Camille and Carlos were standing. He nodded at Camille, who grabbed onto his arm and Carlos's arm. She spun in place and Apparated the four of them back to their hotel room, leaving Riley and James both laying on the forest floor.


	20. Chapter 20

Ignoring what blood was still coming out of his nose; James sat up and steadied himself – realizing that during the entire fight with Kendall, since he'd tackled him off her – Riley hadn't said a word.

Until now. For what it was worth, he immediately knew why she'd kept quiet. Had she been screaming like that during the fight – she probably would've distracted him enough to let Kendall kill him.

Scrambling to her side, he's shocked at the amount of blood she's covered in – from the minute he'd heard the gun he knew it was bad, but he wasn't expecting this.

"Riley! Oh god, love what'd he- shit, fucking hell that's not-"

And this scream is pitched, and he realizes she's reaching for something, which is why it's so pained.

She's not contorted as badly as she could be, her good hand locked around the lower part of her left calf, just above her ankle, where the sock she had on was soaked with blood. That must have been where the bullet had entered – that she was currently trying to dig out, given the way her nails were clawing at her skin.

"J-Jah-James! Hell it – fuck he- UV bullets- I'm gonna fucking die!" She panicked, trying to sit up only to suppress that scream, being Kendall probably had gotten another bullet somewhere along her side.

And then she realized – she'd seen UV in action before, with the Fall Out Boy boys. UV put you up in smoke in as little as five minutes, depending on the proximity of the shot and caliber. The fight had been a good fifteen ago, so she should've been dead!

Rolling her eyes and clawing at her leg again, she manages a smile – though this only worries James more.

"What are you smiling for, you're dying! I can't lose you, Are. You. Crazy?" and now he's freaking out.

"Lying bastard. Atleast go through with it. Man, I'm gonna go directly for Kendall next shot I have, I swear. Says they're UV and fucking LIES to make me feel more pain than I should. Jerk." She spat, cringing at feeling reaching what she knows is the bullet stuck in her leg, knowing she can't remove it herself.

"Wait, so they're not-"

"If they were I'd be dead by now." Laughing, she motions with her head for him to come closer.

"You went from screaming bloody murder to shrugging off getting shot in the span of-" he gawked, though he moved like she wanted.

"What do you want me to do?"

She tried to motion to her leg.

"Help me get this one out, then I can get up and get home – and once we're home, we get the one in my side."

"H-Huh? How?"

She almost growled, muttering a string of curses under her breath.

"Well, for starters, you can fucking see where it's lodged in my leg. My nails aren't long enough."

"That's not very sanit-"

"OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE JAMES! Fine – hunter way it is – you're gonna have to carry me home. Then it's whiskey, homemade stitches and tweezers. Oh, fuck the stitches – THAT's what fangs are for."

She tried to avoid laughing at the look he gave her, knowing it would hurt her side.

"…you really are addicted to that show aren't you?"

Once they get back home, the first thing they do is get the bullet out of Riley's leg – and with a few shots of whiskey, and rubbing alcohol pretty much numbing everything it's easy than it sounds.

After her shirt's off, the one in her side is a little bit harder, but once he gets past all the blood and focuses, he finds that maybe the Winchester way isn't as daunting as it looks onscreen.

After patching that with gauze as a temporary fix, he set to work setting her wrist. As soon as that was done, she smiled, shifting how she sat to watch him take off his shirt and then wash his face, being he'd taken care of his nose before taking her home.

She'd been sitting on the edge of the tub, trying to secure a few pads of gauze with surgical tape around her leg with her free hand until they had time for her to heal the way they were used to.

"There, I can feel my leg – I'm thinking yeah, these weren't UV…soaked in holy water, maybe? Not enough to kill me, just let me know I'm lucky to be alive?" She tried.

He shrugged and hung the washcloth back over the towel bar. Running a hand along his jaw, he sighed.

"Probably. And man, I mean, I remember we were rough when we used to play hockey, with all the highsticks and checking, but-"

"A broken nose isn't a common hockey injure, love." She teased before adding, "And what'd'ya mean used to?"

He grinned.

"That reminds me – about that surprise I was talking about earlier this week – I think, after we get you healed, it's the perfect time that you found out what it is."

Her head snapped up, she'd forgotten about that over everything that had happened recently.

"Well? Come on then!"

Kneeling so he was at her level, being she wasn't sitting on the sink this time, he reached and ruffled her hair.

Looking into his eyes, she couldn't deny the fact that he had some idea that he wasn't telling her. Well, until she felt herself being lifted into his arms, one of his helping steady her injured leg – the other careful not to grab her set wrist, instead shifting so her arm was crooked around his neck.

"Come on what? So you've been good with getting things to go your way lately – let's see if I can't turn this around."

Stepping over the edge of the bathtub so her back was against the shower wall for support, he leans in and kisses her, but since he's smiling at what he's about to do it's not one of the best they've shared.

She raises an eyebrow as he pulls back, nuzzling their noses before blinking. That's when she realizes his telepathy is a hell of a lot more fine-tuned.

Because the shower's on, water exactly the perfect temperature – and he hasn't touched either faucet.

The minute that the four of them reappeared in the hotel room, Kendall finally managed to wriggle out of Logan's grasp. He ran over to the other side of the room and backed up until he was up against wall.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?!" he demanded, the panic in his voice obvious

Logan could smell the fear coming off of Kendall in waves. He had to approach this carefully, mostly because he knew that Kendall was still armed. He walked towards Kendall slowly with his hands held out in front of him.

"Kendall, I'm sure you're still in shock over what happened tonight. If it's alright with you, we'd like to have a nice conversation with you. We can explain everything if you just give us a chance."

Unfortunately for Logan, Kendall still had his gun. He reached into his pocket and pointed the gun at Logan. Behind him, Camille gasped.

"Stay back, or I swear to god, I'll shoot you!" Kendall said, though Logan could hear the uncertainty in his voice. He could also see that his hands were shaking.

"Kendall, put the gun down." Logan said firmly

When Kendall didn't, Logan took a deep breath. He didn't want to have to do this, but he couldn't let Kendall hurt Camille or Carlos. Using the speed and strength that he possessed as a Lycan, he was able to grab Kendall's arm which was holding the gun and wrench it behind his back before Kendall could even react, which caused the gun to fall from his hands. Thinking quickly, Camille used a simple spell to cause the gun to be placed gently on the bedside table. Meanwhile, Logan had forced Kendall down onto his knees and was pinning both of his arms behind him with one arm.

"How are you so fast?" Kendall asked

Logan allowed the nails on his free hand to lengthen into claws and he held it in front of Kendall's face.

"Werewolf?" Kendall asked, his face scrunched up in disbelief

Logan nodded.

"For how long?"

"Almost 200 years," Logan replied. "Now, I'm going to let you go, but you have to promise me that you'll sit and listen to what we have to say. Can you do that?"

Kendall was silent for a moment before Logan's astute hearing picked up a barely audible "Yes." With that, he released his hold on Kendall and stood up. Kendall stood up shortly thereafter.

Logan sat down in one of the chairs in the room and Kendall sat on the edge of the bed. Camille stood next to Logan with her hand resting on the back of the chair and Carlos sat on the floor.

"Okay, let's hear it," Kendall said, his voice still shaking.

Logan looked at Camille and Carlos and took a deep breath.

"Almost two weeks ago, Carlos traveled halfway across the world to come find Camille and me. He said that while he was in Mexico, he had a vision of destruction. He said that a voice told him that terrible things were going to happen if we didn't try to stop them. So, we wanted to try and find you and then see if we could find James and try and figure this whole mess out. Well, we knew you were still here in Minnesota because you sent me a birthday card a while back, so we changed our minds and tried to find James first. We went to New York City first but then when I called him, he said he was living in Minnesota too now, given he'd met Riley in Chicago during a tour and decided to move back home, so we decided to meet with him here. We met them for drinks in a bar while Carlos went ice skating and presumably met up with you."

"Did you know that James was a vampire?" Kendall asked

Logan nodded. "I had a pretty good idea. I could smell him from a mile away, and after Camille left with Riley to go shopping, we were talking about it. Riley was the one who turned him."

"Speaking of Riley, that bitch went to the mall with me only to duck out at the first opportunity!" Camille interjected bitterly and Logan couldn't help but crack a smile. Some things never change.

"About two weeks ago, there was a major killing spree that took place by some vampire, which I now know was Riley. Carlos and I actually met her at a coffee shop, and she pretended to be a fellow hunter. And then shortly thereafter, Katie got attacked by a vampire. I thought it was Riley at first. I just can't believe that James would do something like that," Kendall said, shaking his head.

"He felt really bad about it, though. He called Logan after it happened and he was pretty upset about it. Plus, I don't think that he would do something like that on his own, not to Katie," Carlos chimed in.

"Do you think someone made him do it?" Kendall asked

"I'd bet you anything it was Riley. She seems like a manipulative one. Anyway, how is Katie doing?" Logan asked

For once, Kendall actually smiled a little bit. "She's actually doing really well. The doctors say that she'll be able to come home tomorrow!"

"That's really great! We're glad to hear that!" Logan said with a genuine smile

After that, there was silence for a few moments. Finally, Kendall broke the silence.

"So, what are we going to do about James? If what Carlos saw is going to happen, and if we're going to need the four of us to work together, how is that going to work?"

Logan shrugged.

"I'm not sure. Let's just leave him be for a while. Let's just focus on bringing Katie home tomorrow, filling her in on everything, and going from there."

Kendall nodded. "I think that would be best."

After that, Logan hugged Kendall and Camille took him home. As the three of them settled down for the evening, they tried to come to terms with everything that had happened that night.


	21. Chapter 21

"Don't do this. Don't turn into me with this revenge shit, James. Don't."

Three days after the fiasco in the forest, and she seems perfectly fine, like she could forgot about the whole ordeal.

Between Logan trying to keep Kendall from outright murdering James after what he'd done to Katie - choas had overtaken understanding that night.

All she'd really remembered was the fake UV bullets, and then - well by this point it seemed like four against one, with Camille, Carlos, Logan and Kendall pretty much all siding against James for what he'd done. Well, really what she'd made him do. She didn't feel guilty, perhaps she should? It'd been a long time since any sort of emotion like that had registered - she wasn't even sure she knew the meaning of the word anymore.

And then, the next morning - the surprise he'd been talking about truly did take her by surprise, because he was proving that he'd do anything to stay with her - it'd taken her a moment to understand, but the name on the customized Minnesota Wild jersey would, in time, be her own.

Just yesterday, Carlos had called, insisting he tell them the real reason why he and the others had come to Minnesota in the first place - something about 'the world ending' and 'visions of destruction'. But then Riley thought of Taelia and their original plan - it'd been originally to get back at Illshya for everything she'd done with William, although a demon of that stature could clearly cause the destruction Carlos had mentioned - they couldn't possibly be interconnected, could they?

Riley had been lying on the couch, eyes closed and just actually being happy being still for a moment, but as soon as she'd told him not to do something, she knew there was going to be a counterargument.

"Look, my revenge is different - he almost killed you, you think I'm just going to stand by and watch? If Logan hadn't managed to keep Kendall from going after me, I'd've made sure to put him six feet under! And since we're clearly not going to be on speaking terms with said blond, what better way than to get back at him than with the element he hunts in?"

Riley's eyes widened as she sat up; completely confused. Between watching James constantly trying to replicate some sort of a drawing for the past half hour and the fact that it felt oddly weird knowing a vampire hunter had very nearly killed her for the first time in almost three hundred years, she didn't really feel like thinking of the answer to what riddle he'd posed.

"What do you mean element he hunts in, hun? I'm so confused..."

"Shadows. He can't hide from it then - they live in the dark."

"The Vashta Nerada?" she tried, rolling her eyes at the mere Doctor Who connection.

"Daevas, love. Demons of the shadows - piranhas of the air," James continued, trying to figure out how to sketch out said summoning symbol - it was almost like Z, but not quite. "They can be bound, atleast that's how Meg controlled them."

"Yeah but look what happened when Sam destroyed the black altar. I don't want you dead, it's not worth it. It's not."

Hazel eyes stare determinedly into ice blue, and for a moment, she questions his sanity.

"But you are."

"But they were only summoned by another demon-you can't-"

"We're demons ourselves, technically, given our line's descended from Dracula. Are you gonna help me with this or not?" He wondered, ripping yet another page out of the notebook, having figured he'd finally gotten it right.

"What's to help with? It's a blood summoning, lit candles, that insignia and something to physically represent the bind."

Getting up and moving to sit across from him at the coffee table, she looks over the design – and then doesn't doubt why the superwho fandom was so adamant about the connection.

"Exactly. Candles – as many as we have. As far as representing the bind, you going to mind if I borrow one of your bracelets? Not one of the girly looking ones, one of those-"

"Basically the only friendship bracelet I have, the one Taelia gave me two weeks after we met. Not like she's really a friend after that trick with the paint, but still…"

"That one. And a knife, too."

She has a second or two to laugh, before she realizes he's serious about the whole thing.

"Really?"

James only looks up and grins, "Hey, better me than you, you lost enough blood the way it was. Put it this way, you let me get control of a daeva, I'll let you decide what we-"

"Don't finish that sentence; you're going to regret it." She teased, but he still continued, "I was going to say what we do this weekend, seeing as there's a bit of a date night I had planned Friday night, but fine, if I shouldn't say it I won't." He shook his head, before he leaned in and kissed her.

"Now go find candles."

She started to say something in protest along the lines of 'but I lliiikkkeee fire' but thought better of it and headed into the kitchen, digging through the various drawers, knowing one had all the stuff for if the power went out.

As soon as she'd gotten everything together, James insisted on being alone while doing the actual summoning, on the condition that if something went wrong, it'd probably go for her first seeing as he was the one doing the binding.

Reluctantly she agreed to stay out of the living room, and instead headed back to their room to lie down.

Being bored, she decides to text Taelia.

'You doing anything? I'm bored, the usual.'

A few minutes later there was a reply.

'How can you be bored? What happened to you screwing with people's heads?'

'It almost got me killed? The vampire hunter went after me, thank god James showed up, I'd be dead right now otherwise. He's trying to think of a plan for revenge at the moment, typical guy move. Oh and apparently the end of the world might have something to do with Illshya, but I'm not sure.'

'Do I even wanna know?'

Riley shrugged, looking at her phone, and before she could reply she heard James curse from the other room. And then, the circuit popped.

"Fuck. Knew this was going to end badly," she growled, getting up and poking her head out of the door, calling down the hallway.

It was completely dark, even the candles had gone out.

"James? Everything ok?"

"I'm not dead! Thing wasn't too happy with the bracelet bind, but it's done!"

"Why'd the power go?"

"Dunno. I got it, hang on." he called, obviously he was already walking downstairs.

Walking out into the hall, she was surprised nothing had gotten wrecked – when the devas in the show had been summoned, there'd been havoc.

Figuring she'd go help James try to reset the breaker, she started to head to the door for the basement stairs when she felt like she couldn't move, like she was been held back by something. And then, suddenly, it felt like she'd been pushed, and then her feet were taken out from under her, sending her tumbling down the stairs without any time to react other than yelping.

"Riley?!"

Skidding to the base of the stairs, he's certainly surprised to find the redhead on the floor, one hand to her head, the other pointing back up the staircase.

"Something pushed me. I don't trip like that…atleast not on stairs! You sure that deava thing is supposed to help? If it's bound to you it might go after whoever else is around…"

"You're saying that's what got you down here?"

"No, I thought we should have sex in the laundry room this time. OF COURSE THAT'S WHY I'M DOWN HERE!" her voice cracked as she stood, arms wrapping around him like she didn't dare let go.

"Alright, alright, you're scared it's going after you. This bracelet is the bind so if I cut it in half and we both have one, it shouldn't hurt either of us."

"And what if we lose these?"

"Just don't."

The next morning, both were woken up by the doorbell – at six am.

"Who the fu-"

Stumbling into a sitting position and slippers, she manages a grin at feeling the knot in the back of her hair.

"I'll get it." James manages through a yawn, running a hand through his hair.

Sighing as she laid back down, Riley's head spun. After last night with the thing with the deavas, she was sure having people around probably wasn't going to be the best idea if it managed to throw her down the stairs.

At the sound of the door opening and a rather way-too-chirpy voice floating down the hallway, Riley facepalmed,"Bet you'd never see me again, hey? Now where's 'ol blue eyes at? Just want to figure out how stupid she really is-" Taelia announced, evidently walking back toward her room by the way her voice was carrying.

"Stupid how?" James asked, following after, surprised by how the faerie could be awake so damn early.

"She just texted me yesterday saying you guys were basically playing with fire, that's all. Then again, it's always been like her to get burned."

Getting up and pulling her robe on before shuffling to the door, she crossed her arms over her chest as Taelia pulled open the door.

"Really? In your pajamas still?"

"I don't get out of bed until like eleven, you know that. And wwwhhhyyy are you here so early?"

Taelia laughed, unable to hide the amusement in her tone at the redhead's obvious displeasure at being woken so early.

"After that text last night I wanted to make sure you weren't dead, I just had…a feeling. Knowing you and supernatural, I figured you'd try to pull a page out of the Winchester's journal – except pull a Castiel-holy-fire-molotoving-Michael-in-Adam's-body and get yourself killed. Am I right?"

Before Riley had time to reply, Taelia had spun on the spot, "Oh wait – she said you were the one doing something stupid. Revenge, like typical guys. So, take a page from the Winchesters, vampire boy?" James could only shrug.

"And this time it's my fault, but yeah. Little bit of Zoroastrian symbols and blood helped, but-"

"YOU SUMMONED A FUCKING DAEVA?! A DAEVA, OF ALL THINGS!"

Taelia lost it – to think they'd try actually following in the footsteps of the ill-fated brothers of the CW megahit was bad enough – but to summon a type of demon she knew damn well he wouldn't be able to control for long?

"We followed the altar, what could go wrong? We have binding objects, we're safe. You are too, since you're near us – I think."

"BINDING OBJECTS?" Taelia turned back to look at Riley who raised her hands in a 'hey-it's-okay' gesture.

"I used an old bracelet I had. As long as I don't lose it, I should be fine."

Taelia sighed, resisting the urge to turn around and walk right back out of the residence, and tried to explain.

"Y'know, I should just take it. Without that binding agent, you're as good as dead. Deavas are some of the worst type of demon to control, I'm surprised pretty boy here hadn't picked up on that during the summoning! And being you were stupid enough to get bored enough to almost let a hunter kill you? You're losing your touch, Riley. Then again, having the daeva go after you might teach you a lesson - and this time, don't expect me to come to the rescue - and even though I'm in the middle of my rant, I'll be right back, I'm just going to use your bathroom for a sec-" And with a snap of her fingers she was back down the hall.

"Do you really think telling her was going to end well? And I mean, how are you two even friends? You always seem like you're arguing-" James pointed out, to which Riley didn't even try to answer.

"And I thought you didn't trust her anymore? After the thing with the devil's trap-"

"I don't have very many people left. Asides from you and my sister, who promptly disowned me the moment we moved here, I have nothing but past regrets, and someone that at one point was the best of friends." she explained, face manifesting into a sad smile, before she turned to walk into the living room, noticing the faerie had perched on the armrest of the couch and was almost laughing at something.

"What's the laughing for? Still surprised I'm awake before noon?" Riley tried, shaking her head.

"Oh, it's nothing - I just thought you two would have more pictures of the two of you, seeing as you're so happy and in love," came the reply, though it was tinged with sarcasm.

"Vampires, remember? Don't show up on film. Or in mirrors. It's murder trying to fix my hair." James complained, laughing slightly.

"Right, right, whatever. So about that binding agent you were mentioning - bracelet, you say? You better hope it's knotted so tight you can never get it off, because if you lose it-" Taelia started again, intending to continue the rant her bladder had interrupted.

"Oh come on, Taelia - I'm not going to-"

"We all know you. You're going to lose it! And if you lose that, you're going to get hurt. I'm disappointed you'd allow James to even do something so dangerous, I'd've thought you'd have been more strict. You're failing William's memory, he'd be livid at your lack of control, even if your conven was just the two of you!"

"Don't. You. Dare." Riley growled, surprised Taelia hadn't learned better than to mention a certain name in front of her.

But Taelia continued without so much as a flinch.

"And James, I'm disappointed in you as we - although you're a newborn vampire, I would have thought you'd know better than to mess with creatures far older than the thing that turned you! All in all - listen carefully to this, because I WON'T repeat myself. You two have royally fucked up beyond what I thought you could've fucked up in the first place. Revenge will never end well, it's the nature of the beast!"

"So is being what we are, so we're back to that. Don't pretend you haven't tricked people for the hell of it." Riley is about to respond before James says exactly what she had on her mind, effectively causing the faerie to give an exasperated shout of frustration before turning to look between the two of them.

"ARGH! You know what, I HOPE it turns on you! Don't call me when something goes wrong - you're dead to me - both of you!"

Riley practically snorted at the irony.

"We're dead anyways, tinker bell. Throw your little faerie dust during your hissy fit and then get your ass out of my living room, because you're sure not welcome back anytime soon, bitch."

Taelia only rolled her eyes and flipped her off with one hand, snapping her fingers with the other as she disappeared, off to who knew where.


	22. Chapter 22

With Katie home from the hospital, it was apparently to everyone that Kendall was already feeling a bit better, although he still tried to avoid any topic of conversation that even mentioned James.

"You're going to have to face him sooner or later, big brother. We all know what he did was wrong - judging from everything you guys have told me he knows exactly how much he screwed up with all this - but if Carlos is right about his visions and the four of you need to work together, you're going to have to find a way to talk to him without wanting to kill him, I know how you get with hunts."

Kendall sighed - here his younger sister was, telling him exactly what had been at the back of his mind for the past few days.

"That's easier said than done. I guess this whole thing would be a lot simpler if there were a few less people involved."

Katie shrugged, shuffling through the various sketches of gear and prototypes she'd had scattered around the kitchen before finally sitting down next to him at the table.

"So? Make it that way. Find out who you can leave out, and move ahead."

Kendall thought about that. The easiest way to make sure James was himself was to make sure Riley wasn't around - just from light of recent events alone it was clear the redhead had a large influence on the former. And Logan had mentioned multiple times now of a faerie he and Camille had dealt with that also appeared to know Riley, so if he could get her out of the loop that would be even better.

Little did he know fate was currently taking care of the problem in its own way.

From the moment Taelia left, Riley immediately felt off. Just looking around, she could swear there was a shadow in broad daylight in her field of vision! And not like a normal shadow - like it was the daeva. And of course, there was one explanation for that.

Running back down the hall into their bedroom, hands and eyes beginning scanning the tops of dressers, hooks on the back of the door, and anywhere else it could have been left.

Five minutes later and she's back down the hall, darting for the bathroom, doing the same search.

"What's got you all hyper all of a sudden? It's like-"

"Bitch. took. my. bracelet." She paused on each word, eyes blazing as she stared at the spot the faerie had been standing in.

"How would she know where it is? You had it hanging in the medicine cabinet in the- oh. Oh. Oh."

"From the minute I mentioned the bond - notice how she said she had to go to the bathroom? She probably rifled through everything then...I'm SUCH an idiot! I used to keep my glasses in the same exact spot in the old houses when I was still human, along with pills and things like - fuck, she knows my bad habits and organizational skills, if I'd only changed things I wouldn't be in this mess!"

Flopping onto the couch, she tried to bang her head onto the armrest, but instead found James' hand acting as a barrier.

"Look, you're not an idiot, love. I should've figured something was up when she walked in, given how the two of you always are. We can just split what's left of mine and hope it's enough to keep it at bay." he suggested, hand that wasn't keeping her from imitating Dobby working at untying the knot in the bracelet.

"It's not enough." she stated after a few minutes, fiddling with her hair out of sheer nervous habit, "Taelia's right. Maybe we should just let it do it's thing. I mean, yeah, so it pushed me down the stairs. That's nothing a vampire can't handle. There's not much that can hurt me. Why don't we just see where this goes? It's like Lego House - 'I'm gonna pick up the pieces, and build a lego house - if things go wrong, we can knock it down.' So if it seriously finds a way to hurt me, we figure out how to get rid of it. Until then, I'll just pretend I'm Haley Joel Osment with the whole 'I see dead people' thing."

James really tried to think of a valid argument for that, that if they did that it would be rendering the entire summoning useless in the first place. but he knew once Riley had he mind made up there was no chance of changing it.

"Only if you're sure."

She giggled, having expected him to say that.

"When do I ever change my mind? And besides," she started, getting up off the couch and heading towards the front door, "C'mon, let's actually go out for coffee for once!"

James laughed, heading after her, wondering exactly how long it would take for her to realize she was still in her pajamas.

Later that night, after seeing shadows at the edge of her vision and having an increasingly annoying sense of paranoia, Riley was beyond happy to shut her eyes and curl into bed beside James. It was dark after all, shadows could only be seen with some source of light. Between the stillness of the room and the lack of light, it just made it seem like everything was going to be okay, that the shadows weren't going to come after her, that she wouldn't get throw down the stairs again. Dead wrong at that, as usual, and this time, it'd be much worse.

Knowing she'd watched one too many horror movies over the course of the five and a half years she'd now spent with James, she managed a soft giggle at the slight tug on her foot, before turning over and curling closer to the only reason she now had a slight fear of the dark.

But when it happened again, she blinked and sat up, awake, thoroughly convinced it had gotten into the room. But as long as she was near James, it couldn't hurt her, could it? It was a shadow, it had no physical form. Had she just imagined something grabbing her foot?

Another tug on her ankle, violent this time, and she's physically moved from where she sits!

Sighing as she turned to look at his side of the bed, she was mildly disturbed that it clearly wasn't him doing it, he hadn't moved and currently had one arm tangled around the pillow, the other one hanging over the edge of the bed.

"I need to go check this out. That's gotta stop." She grumbled, reluctantly getting up and walking into the hall, flipping every light switch on as she went.

At least she'd be able to see it this time.

Walking into the bathroom after grabbing a glass from the kitchen, she let her gaze linger on the mirror for a few seconds, still wishing she had her reflection.

Suddenly, the overhead light in the bathroom went out with a pop, and the room was plunged into completely darkness, the door slamming shut. Trying not to immediately freak out, Riley took a deep breath. If James had woken up and had decided to play like this as a game, he was going to get the payback of a lifetime.

Instead, she grinned; rolling her eyes when she felt herself being pressed against the sink, like something - or someone was in front of her.

"Jamesy, c'mon baby this isn't funny, I'm tired..." she tried to whine, anything to make herself seem completely innocent.

Imagine her surprise at the laugh she received in response, before a short burst of telekinesis sent her tumbling into the shower, the water being turned on at the same time, causing her to scream before a hand landed in her hair a few seconds later, pulling her roughly to her feet, the oversized shirt she wore now heavy with water and sticking to her skin.

In all honestly, she was completely unsure how to react - it was obvious this wasn't James, it was too rough - but then, what could - it couldn't possibly be the daeva, it wouldn't have a physical form!

At the feel of lips against her jaw, her entire body went rigid, mind racing as the hand in her hair tightened.

A low laugh is all it takes for her to scream again, although with the shower running like this it's doubtful James can hear her.

"Awh, doll, what's wrong? I get you're surprised, but you shouldn't be reacting like this, not after all these years."

Riley could not believe what she was hearing, but more than that it wasn't was being said - it was who was saying it. There was no way it was him, it didn't add up.

"Please, for the love of god, get the fuck away from me. PLEASE! I'm just hallucinating, this is some insane nightmare, I'm gonna wake up in James' arms and everything's gonna be okay and I'm gonna get rid of that fucking daeva..." she almost mumbled to herself, but at the mention of her lover's name, the other being snorted.

"Like you expect me to believe you have genuine feelings for that poor excuse for talent. What happened to going after real rockstars, hm? Like me, you remember, don't you? If fact, if I remember, you'd been just like this that night-" and he broke off, one had moving to her leg, resting on her thigh before his grip tightened, Riley knowing well enough that there'd be bruises in the morning.

How she managed to remember the old Fall Out Boy lyrics at such a dire time were beyond her, but the line of 'bruises on your thighs have my fingerprints' stuck out, being flashbacks from almost three hundred years ago were being triggered, causing her once again to scream - this time bloody murder.

James had been sound asleep, and then, for the strangest reasons, he could have sworn he heard someone screaming, and it had managed to wake him up. Maybe he'd left the TV on in the living room?

Sitting up and stretching with a yawn, he got up and walked into the hall, shaking his head at the realization that Riley had turned every single light on. He hadn't seen her lying down in their room, so she probably was checking it out as well.

And then he heard the shower running.

Finding it odd that she'd be wanting to take a shower at almost quarter to three in the morning, he shrugged and went to knock on the bathroom door, figuring he'd grab her a towel because she had a habit of forgetting to grab them before she locked the door.

"Riley? Sweetheart you okay? It's almost-" the sentence died on his lips - he hadn't left the TV on, the screaming he'd been hearing was coming from the other side of the door!

Trying the door handle and finding it locked, he didn't waste any time in throwing himself into the door, just as if he'd been board-checking out on the ice during a game.

Surprisingly the door had opened under the force, and the light from the hallway flooded into the bathroom, leaving a rather confusing sight before him.

The moment the door opened and light flooded the room, Riley finally caught sight of who had caused the memories to regress - it had been the daeva - taking the form of William Beckett, eyes flashing red for a split second before it disappeared, the light dispelling its physical form it must have only been able to maintain in complete darkness.

She slid down the shower wall with a strangled sob, thankful the pain in her head had let up due to her hair not being pulled on. She couldn't bring herself to turn the water off, and she didn't want to acknowledge that the demon itself had taken a physical form, it was all too much to take it.

But then, at her name, she looks up, icy blue wide-as-bambi eyes closing with relief at the sight of the vampire in front of her, being she knows she's meant to be with him from now on.

"H-Help."

Shocked by how weak her own voice sounded, she tried to stand, although seconds later she'd swayed and nearly fell back over, if it hadn't been for James stepping into the shower to catch her, turning the water off with telekinesis at the same time.

"You're okay." was the first thing out of his mouth, being he wasn't exactly sure what had happened in the first place.

She sighed, pressing herself against him to reassure herself that he was real before trying to talk.

"It...It had a physical form...it was the - no, it was - it was him. I mean it was the daeva but it was him and-

oh, James!" and before she could properly explain herself, the tears had started again, threatening to choke her.

She didn't fight when he lifted her into his arms and carried her back to bed, nor as he sat down on the edge of the bed and began to rock her. Eventually her tears subdued into hiccups and she managed a small smile as one of his hands ran fingers through her hair, untangling it from where it had grabbed her.

"I t-told you th-that was a b-bad idea. I kn-know it's my fault I l-lost the bracelet, b-but-"

"Hey, love, you're okay. I promise, we'll figure out how to get rid of this thing, okay? I had ideas, but you're too shaken up for me to mention any now."

Her head snapped up, wanting to hear more despite the shock she was already in. Seeing the familiar look in her eyes, he returned the smile and kissed her forehead.

"It's bedtime. You need to clear your mind after what just happened, and the easiest way to do that is sleep."

She winked and her face cracked into a crooked grin as she tried to turn in his arms to straddle him.

"Weeellllll...that's not the only easy way," she purred, wanting to replace what marks she knew the daeva had left with ones he could easily leave if things got passionate enough.

She practically rolled her eyes at the tired laugh he gave, although he leaned in to kiss her again.

When he pulled away, he scooted her off of him and climbed back into his side of the bed, leaving one of his arms out so she could use it as a pillow. Deciding he was probably right, she crawled back up next to him and slipped under the covers, trying to forget that the night had even happened.

Besides, she had a plan for tomorrow. And the first thing? Talk to Camille, surely the healer would know some way to get those bruises to go away.


	23. Chapter 23

iley woke at sunrise, in part from her phone buzzing under her pillow, as she'd trained the old vampiric circadian rhythm to not react as it did for most newborns, waking at sunset and beginning to tire at sunrise. The strange thing about that trait, she's realized, is that it hadn't affected James or William - her best guess being that the rhythm depended on how the one doing the siring had adapted to it.

Slipping out of bed, she grabbed what clothes she'd left out on the dresser the night before, along with James' phone and headed into the bathroom to change.

Trying to avoid thinking about the night before at all costs, she opened the medicine cabinet just to check if it really was gone. Indeed, it was - but beside from that, she could see the slightest glimmer of a powdery substance on the shelf where the bracelet had been.

"I'll be damned. She read my mind about the faerie dust. Bitch." Riley laughed, reaching for James' phone after pulling her shirt on.

Flipping past the lock screen, she opened up the text messages, intending to let one of them know she was going to show up so she wouldn't get killed on arrival, well, not that she mentioned it was going to be her showing up.

'It's me - look, I get you're all still mad at me, but seriously, I know I got myself into trouble with you guys but now something's after me. It followed us home, thing attacked Riley last night - I know you probably don't want to talk to me but I don't know what to do.'

A few minutes later the was a reply from Logan.

'Do you know how early it is? What happened to vampires being nocturnal? And yeah, we're all still upset, but atleast Katie's home now, Kendall seems to be a little better. Still wants to avoid you, though.'

Riley smiled at reading Katie was home, it would be nice to finally meet the girl.

'I'm not asking to talk to him - any of you, really if you'd think we're better off not talking. But I've never seen Riley shaken up like this, Logan, and it's been five years. I mean, she's obviously under mental stress because of this thing following us, and it's inflicting physical harm.'

There. Maybe that'd make wolf boy get it - she knew they were all still mad at James, but if she could make them atleast sympathize with her after being attacked...

'That's karma for you attacking Katie, James. I mean, I'd suggest Camille take a look at her given she's a healer, but given how their recent interactions have been, I'm more inclined to say Camille would curse her instead.'

Riley rolled her eyes, like that witch would been able to do anything to her, did wolf boy really think she was a threat?

'Would you atleast ask her and see if she'd be open to the idea? I get this in no way makes up for everything, but if you were to see the condition she's in - it's fair to say I know what Kendall went through. And if it's alright I'd like to see Katie, to apologize.'

Setting the phone down for a minute to pull her converse on, she smiled. If she could go talk to the others without James realizing it, maybe she could fix everything - get them atleast talking to him without Kendall wanting to kill him. Then again, she had to make sure Kendall wasn't going to try to kill her again, too.

Looking back through the messages one more time, she deleted them and tiptoed back into the bedroom, putting his phone back where it'd been, stealing a glance at the completely clueless shirtless vampire stretched out on half of the bed.

With a slight sigh, she closed the door as softly as she could and grabbed her keys.

After going back to sleep for a few hours after being woken up with texts from James, Logan finally woke up.

Seeing Camille and Carlos already dressed, he checked his phone again - 11 AM.

"You didn't have to let me sleep so late, guys." he complained, sitting up and stretching.

Carlos shrugged, turning off the TV.

"We've had a rough couple of days, you needed it. You okay? You keeping looking at your phone like something's wrong." he wondered, before Camille came back into the room from the bathroom, sitting down next to Logan.

"I could've sworn you were up early this morning - like I woke up and fell back asleep, but you were playing with your phone. So what's wrong?" she asked gently, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"It's nothing I guess. James just was texting me this morning - apparently there's something else after him besides Kendall and it went and hurt Riley and he's worried about her...and then he asked if you could take a look at her, because you're a healer. That and I guess he wants to see Katie - to apologize in person for the whole thing."

"Well, we were supposed to go over to Kendall's for breakfast since Katie's feeling better..." Carlos added, having realized it was close to noon and they hadn't eaten yet.

"Yeah, but do you really want him and that bitch anywhere near her? And who cares if she got attacked? Serves her right, after manipulating him into going after Katie!" Camille countered.

"He's really worried about her. And I mean, he doesn't even have Kendall's address. We could just go for breakfast, ask his opinion of the whole thing and go from there," Logan suggested, getting up and looking between Camille and Carlos, surprised to see them nod.

"You know he's going to try to avoid anything that deals with James, but I don't know how long he can keep that up for. I'm just up for food, so let's go with your idea." Carlos agreed with a smile, Camille laughing.

"Well come on boys, let's go get you food."

Camille took the two boys and apparated everyone over to Kendall's apartment. She knocked on the door, which was immediately opened by Kendall, who invited them in. Katie was in the kitchen, finishing up breakfast. When she saw Logan and Camille, she gave both of them enormous hugs. For Kendall, it was just nice to see her happy, given everything that had happened. The five of them enjoyed a hearty breakfast of eggs, toast, pancakes, and various fresh fruits. After cleaning up the dishes with a little magical help from Camille, they went in the living room to talk.

Logan and Camille explained everything that they had told Kendall the night before, including why they were there and what Carlos had seen in his dreams. They also explained their reasons for leaving California in the first place after the band had broken up. Katie seemed to take the news that Logan was a werewolf and Camille was a witch surprisingly well. Everything was going great, until they heard a knock at the door. Everyone looked at Kendall.

"Are you expecting anyone else?" Katie asked

He shook his head. "I don't think I am. I'll be right back."

He got up and opened the door. The moment that he opened the door, Logan could hear his heart as it started to race, and he could smell the rage emanating from Kendall. He got up and went to investigate. To his surprise, standing on the other side of the door, was Riley.

"You've got a lot of nerve showing up here after what you did. In fact, I'm surprised that you're still alive," Kendall said, his voice cold.

She snorted. "Please, I know you didn't really shoot me with UV light bullets. You were bluffing, otherwise I wouldn't be here. Besides, I'm not here to talk to you. I'm actually here to talk to your mate," she said, pointing at Logan.

Logan stepped closer to the threshold.

"What do you want with Camille?" he asked, his lips curling into a snarl

"Relax, would you? I came to her because she's a healer. I need her to take a look at something."

"What's wrong? James bite you a little too hard?" Logan sneered

"For once, it wasn't him. It was something else that caused it, and the marks won't go away. Please, she's the only one who can really help me. Can I come in?"

Logan looked at Kendall.

"Absolutely not. You're staying right there. Logan, go get Camille," Kendall instructed.

Logan walked back into the living room.

"Camille, there's someone here who wants to talk to you," he said.

Camille got up and followed Logan back to the door. When she saw who it was, her eyes widened. She turned to Logan and Kendall.

"Could you give us a minute, boys?" she asked

Kendall and Logan nodded and went back to the living room. Camille stepped over the threshold and slightly closed the door behind her. She turned to face Riley.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" she demanded

"Please, I came here because I know you're a healer. I need your help."

Camille scoffed. "I see no reason to help you, not after what you've done."

"You don't understand. I've got something after me, something really evil, and now it's gone and hurt me. You're the only person who can help. Please," she begged.

"No. I will not help you, not after everything you've put Kendall through. Unlike you, I actually care about my friends. Now, get out of here before I do something I regret. I'm not as helpless as you think I am," Camille said, her voice full of cold rage as the lights in the hallway began to flicker.

Knowing there was nothing else that could be done, Riley turned on her heels and walked away without saying a word. Camille walked back into the apartment and shut the door behind her.

"Everything okay?" Logan asked

"It's fine. She's gone, and good riddance. Kendall should have killed that bitch when he had the chance," Camille muttered as Logan embraced her.

The minute Riley started walking back down the hall; she saw something flit past her, just at the edge of her vision.

"Fuckin' things can teleport, too, joy." She grumbled, trying to get outside as fast as possible.

As if the overall encounter with it the night before wasn't bad enough, she was positive it was just waiting to strike again. When she'd gotten dressed that morning, she'd made a point to not look at her legs, knowing how bad it would be.

Demons were always stronger, stronger than even werewolves and vampires.

Lost in her thoughts, she had noticed she'd wandered farther than she'd meant, and looking around, realized she accidentally turned and walked down the stairwell leading to the complex's basement, thinking she'd been a floor higher than she originally was. Looking up at the dim lights that barely flooded the hallway she was now in, she sighed and went to turn back around to go back upstairs, but to her surprise found the door now shut.

"Just go to hell for heaven's sake!" she yelled, knowing it was the daeva playing with her, intending to trap her where she was so close to help.

At the pop of the lights flickering out, she braces herself to be thrown off balance, but it doesn't come. Instead, there's nothing but a slow clap from somewhere down the hall.

Reluctantly heading towards it, as she obviously has no choice being the door she'd came from was shut, she really hoped who she knew was going to be standing there wasn't going to be standing there.

But no, leaning against the far wall of the basement, twirling a stake (judging by the sound of it being thrown in the air and then caught), was the daeva taking the form of her ex-lover.

"You know, the scene last night was enough, you demonic ass. You're lucky James heard me."

"I'm LUCKY? Well look around sweetheart - there's no-one else here to stop me this time. I applaud you in trying to get the witch's help, it's sweet, though she turned you away. How the bruises feeling, hm?"

"Don't patronize me. They're there and they hurt." she replied, voice clipped. She felt more than saw him move closer to her, enough so that he had her pinned to the wall, her hands above her head held in one of his.

Though she struggled, she couldn't get free. Deciding it was better to let the daeva have his fun, she sighed and resigned herself to whatever plan he had in mind.

"See, love, I didn't want her to turn you away - no I want them to help you, if only at the cost of what your fiance is planning," he murmured, lips at her ear.

Her mind raced - how the hell did the daeva know about the jersey and the proposal? And why would it want the others to help her?

"Oh stop thinking so much. You always fret over things you can't control. Relax." he tried to soothe, kissing her just as gently as Riley had remembered him nearly three centuries ago.

And at that moment, she wanted to believe it wasn't the daeva, that it was William, that it was- a sudden burning, searing pain snaps her out of her reverie, and she balks at the sight of the small vial in the demon's hand. Holy water, which he'd just flicked into her face. As it passed however, there came another kiss, and she realized it was playing a game with her.

"Arousal heightens the pain tolerance," he explained, before tipping the vial down one of her arms, causing her to scream in pain as it left blisters and red skin in its wake. Allowing the injured hand to drop from his grip, the William-daeva proceeded to twist said arm until it easily dislocated with a soft pop, though this was drowned out by another cry.

"Awh, honey, shhhhh...I'm just getting started...now, what next...hm, I think I'll leave your face be, you're much too pretty to mess that up."

She growled, knowing she was in for a trip to hell.


	24. Chapter 24

The William-daeva paced in front of Riley, still twirling the stake he held, an almost psychotic grin plastered to his face at the sight of the girl before him.

She lay slumped against the wall, one arm blistered and burned from holy water, limp from dislocation. Her other hand had had its bones shattered, enough to where even moving it and putting weight on it caused intolerable pain. The same was done to one of her legs, the daeva having maneuvered her body enough to manually tear the ACL before dislocating the knee.

But this wasn't the worst he had planned, no, he was going to use the vampire's worst fear and way of certain death to his advantage.

Gripping the stake tighter, William knelt next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder, smiling sadly.

"I'm sorry you're in so much pain, dear - but how else am I to convince the witch to heal you? It's not over yet, though. There's still one thing I need to do - there needs to be blood."

She tried to sit up, putting pressure on her shattered hand, causing an agonized scream to cross her lips.

"Y-you w-wouldn't!" she chokes out through gritted teeth, realizing what the stake means.

He only grins, grabbing a fistful of her hair to lift her up into a sitting position, whistling a tune as he goes. Leaning in and kissing her at the same he forces the stake into her, he laughs as her only good limb kicks at him, her cry being muffled by his lips.

The stake isn't near her heart, she won't die from such an injury - well, unless she's healed quickly, within the next hour or so. But still, it delights the daeva to see the heather grey shirt the girl wore rapidly staining dark with blood, and the scent is heavy in the air by the time he explains the intention.

"See, poor clueless little Jamesy might have done the summoning, but that doesn't mean I have to serve him. That stake sticking through the muscles just below your collarbone? Grabbed it from Kendall the other day, don't see why I should hurt the guy, not when you're so much more fun to scare. And here, just to much sure you're in enough pain-" he paused, picking her up roughly before throwing her across the room, her body turned just so the side with the stake in it collided with the edge of the wall. Before she had time to react she felt his boot on her shoulder blade, and with pressure putting her against the wall, yet another blinding, immobilizing pang of agony ran through her - this time finally throwing her over the limit for pain tolerance as she allowed black nothingness to take her into unconsciousness.

The daeva smirked, clearly pleased at what he'd done. The girl's shirt was almost black now with blood soaking into it, and both her arms were damaged, as well as one of her legs and her upper body due to the last act of breaking her collarbone. With injuries like that, the witch would be forced to help her once he got the last piece of the plan in place!

Picking the redhead up from the floor, where not even a noise registered from her form, the daeva snapped his fingers and found himself back in the girl's residence, and unceremoniously dropped her on the couch in the living room.

And now, he would wait. Surely the idiot stupid enough to summon him in the first place would walk into the room and find the girl, near death and silent. Then the real fun would begin.

When he woke up, James was surprised to find Riley gone - usually he woke up and she was curled into him, body contorted to be so wound around him it made getting up impossible without waking her.

He didn't hear the shower running, so maybe she'd just gone for coffee like she sometimes did. Yawning and pushing the thought to the back of his mind that she hadn't left a note, he got up and pulled a shirt on.

Walking out of their bedroom however, the scent of blood is in the air, and it's too heavy to ignore. This isn't the 'run-of-the-mill guess-i'm-really-hungry feeding session' blood smell, this was 'crime-scene-aesthetic' blood smell.

And once he's in the living room, he understands why.

It's more than an understatement to say he's not livid at the sight on the couch. First anger, than panicked concern as he comes to her side, realizing she hasn't made a single sound since he noticed she was there. Worse yet, it appears she's unconscious, completely out cold.

But what would do this, or more precisely, who?

Flipping on the nearby lamp, he takes in what damage meets the eye - wait a minute, hadn't she gone to bed in a light grey tshirt? Why was this black?

His gazes steadies on the rounded handle of what he knows is a stake that most likely will leave a gaping hole in her chest if removed, and it's everything he can do to keep himself from grabbing the nearest anything and throwing it against a nearby wall.

"Riley! Jesus, sweetheart, please please don't be dead! Not twice in a week, I can't - so help me I'm going to finish what I started and I'm going to kill Kendall this time for doing that! How'd he find you, anyways? Damn tracker, that's it!" he fumes, kneeling to further see how bad her injuries are. He notices she's lying a little odd, one of her arms is completely bent weird and it's blistered and red, like it's been brushed with - holy water. Same for one of her legs, her knee is at an odd angle, almost as though the internal structure helping to keep its form had been destroyed. The hand resting over her stomach had swelled to twice its normal size and when he (stupid as this was) went to hold it, he realized he couldn't feel a single solid spot, it was as if her hand had turned to jelly.

This motion however, of grabbing for her hand, had also snapped her back awake into a brutal reality with an ear-splitting scream, though she immediately bites her lip to calm herself when she realizes who she's with. When she tried to turn her head to face him, she triggered another debilitating strike of pain, realizing she'd irritated her collarbone.

"M-make it st-stop, Jamesy. Everything h-hurts," she whimpered with half closed eyes, being the pain was back and it hadn't dulled any.

James nodded and leaned in to kiss her, thankful that she was at least alive, although he knew there was only one person at this point that would be able to fix the damage that had been done.

"I'll try, love."

He stood up and pulled out his phone, dialing Logan's number. Logan didn't answer, though. It went to voicemail. He anxiously tried calling both Carlos and Camille and neither of them picked up. Running his hands through his hair nervously, he tried to think of where they would be. Deep in his heart, he knew there would only be one other place they could be while they were in the city, and it was the one place that he didn't want to go. Knowing that he didn't have any other option, he gently picked up Riley and took off running in the direction of Kendall's apartment.

After the band had broken up but before everyone went their separate ways, Kendall had had a party at this place. James could only hope that he could make it there in time.

Eventually, he made it to his destination as Riley grew weaker in his arms with every step. Summoning all of the courage he had, he raised his arm and knocked on the door as hard as he could.

After the encounter with Riley, everyone was resting comfortably. They were hanging out and talking and laughing and for the first time in a long time, things actually felt somewhat normal. The peaceful feeling that had descended was rudely interrupted, however, when there came a knocking at the door. When no one made a move to go and answer it, the knocking turned into pounding. Everyone slowly stood up, and Kendall walked over to the door. He turned and looked back at his friends before opening the door.

On the other side of the door stood James, who was cradling RIley in his arms, who didn't look too good. Logan could smell the blood.

"I need your help," James said.

To everyone's surprise, Kendall actually laughed.

"What's so funny?" James demanded

"Oh, it's nothing. I just can't believe after everything you've done, after all of the pain that you've caused everyone, that you would still have the balls to actually show up here!" Kendall replied, his tone serious.

"Oh believe me Kendall, I don't want to be here, and if it wasn't an emergency, I wouldn't be here," James said.

"So why are you here, then?" Logan asked

"Come on, Logan. You've always been a smart boy. I'm sure you can figure it out," James sneered, baring his fangs slightly.

Logan growled.

"Something is after the two of us and it's getting out of control and now, it's gone and hurt Riley. I need Camille to heal her."

"See, normally I'd love to help, but unfortunately for her, she's a psychotic bitch who has done nothing but cause pain and suffering, so I'm fresh out of fucks to give about what happens to her," Camille replied, the venom in her voice obvious.

James' eyes widened.

"Are you fucking kidding me right now? You're a healer! You're supposed to help people! Think about it, Camille! What if this was Logan? Huh? Wouldn't you want to do anything to help him?! Please, I am begging you right now."

When no one made a move, he continued. "Look, I know that I've done some things that I can't ever hope to be forgiven for, but please, just help me out. Help me out this once, and then I swear, I will make things right," James pleaded, his voice cracking with emotion.

Camille looked at the others and sighed. She couldn't stand to see James so miserable.

"Fine, fine. I'll do it, but not out of the kindness of my heart. I'll only do it because when I first became a healer, I made a promise to help those who needed it most, and right now, it looks like she needs it."

When James made a move to try and cross over the threshold, he looked at Kendall with a pleading look.

As much as Kendall didn't want to do it, he knew that he had no other choice. He let James enter his apartment. The moment that he stepped over the threshold, Logan felt someone cling to his side. He looked down and saw Katie. She clung onto him for dear life. He wrapped his arms around her in a protective embrace and smoothed her hair.

"Don't worry. I won't let him get near you," he whispered.

"Thank you," she replied.

Camille motioned for James to set Riley down on the floor, which he did gently. He sat down quietly as Camille began to rummage through her bag for supplies. She cursed under her breath.

"I don't have what I need with me. I'll be right back," she said and she apparated with a small pop.

The silence in the room was almost unbearable. No one really knew what to say or do. Thankfully, the silence was broken a moment later as Camille reappeared, carrying her large suitcase.

"So James, tell me what happened to her."


	25. Chapter 25

The silence in the room was almost unbearable. No one really knew what to say or do. Thankfully, the silence was broken a moment later as Camille reappeared, carrying her large suitcase.

"So James, tell me what happened to her."

James shrugged. "To be completely honest, I don't know, but I have my suspicions. All this stuff started with one of her friends, turns out it's the faerie, started getting into these arguments with her - seems like you put her and Riley in a room and they're constantly at each other's throats. Two nights ago, before leaving after an argument I actually had to break up, Taelia mentioned something about payback for all those supernatural episodes she knew we'd been watching. From that point on, it was weird - there'd be shadows at the edge of your vision, you'd swear you'd hear whispering. Almost like a ghost, y'know? But then that night she got pushed down the stairs, and early the yesterday morning at like three am, whatever it was had pretty much attacked Riley, it'd trapped her in the shower and - well, she said it had a physical form, at least while it was dark. I went back through all the supernatural monsters-of-the-week like Taelia had alluded to - found out it was a daeva, a type of demon that's often very dangerous when being controlled by someone."

"So you think the faerie summoned a daeva and is using it to make you guys insane. Wow, why would someone do that, you're such nice people," Kendall chimed from where he was sitting, not expecting Riley to be the one to react, as she managed to turn her head to look at him with a glare, though its intensity was undermined by the scream it was accompanied with.

"How bad is she hurt if she sounds like that?" Carlos wondered, having noticed the minute the redhead made any indication of being in pain, James reacted, hands tightening against the back of the chair he sat in, eyes shutting like he wished he could take her place.

"Let's see, Carlos, do you see the stake in her chest?"

"Now now you two, I don't need you guys starting a fight, I've got enough to deal with."

"Wow, I say something sarcastic and now I'm starting a fight. Case you haven't noticed, my fiancee is dying for the second time in a week! I think I'm allowed to be a little freaked out!"

And though she was in pain, Riley managed a smile at the title, to which everyone else in the room had to do a double take at.

"What the-" Carlos.

"You're only like 29!" Logan.

"Her, really?" Kendall.

"Where's the ring, then?" Camille.

James sighed, this wasn't the way he wanted to be explaining it, of course, he'd planned meeting the guys differently all together.

The minute he went to explain it, Camille went to turn Riley's arm over to get at the other half of the burns, but because she thought she had some strength back, she tried to sit up. Before anyone could do anything, Camille flicked her wand and Riley's eyes closed, her body gently laying itself back down on the floor.

"What the hell was that? She just-and then you-"

"Simple charm for bewitched sleep, she's fine, don't worry."

"I get you guys are surprised, but I mean I had the whole thing planned for a good year before all of you guys came into the picture - I was going to do the entire thing in one night, but the jersey came early even though it was intended as a christmas gift, and then-"

"Jersey?"

"Well yeah, I ordered one of those custom jerseys, it's one of the Wild's away game ones, but it's got the number of our anniversary on it, and then my last name. Fits her perfectly. The other half of it was supposed to be going to the game next Tuesday against Montreal and actually propose to her at the game, with the big screen and all that, but things kinda got in the way."

He fell quiet after that, watching as Camille worked, starting with the most obvious damage first, though it wasn't the stake.

"Why not the stake first? That's got to be causing her the most pain." Logan wondered, although he realized why Camille was going in a certain order once she'd started on Riley's burned arm.

"That stake is going to be most stressful injury - right now, I'm focusing on the more minor ones - her arm, hand and then her knee."

"And collarbone, that's why she screamed." James added, running his hands through his hair to keep himself from kneading the back of the chair.

"Collarbone, too? Boy that daeva did a number on her...these burns aren't terrible, but with the way her leg and arm are it's obvious they're dislocated and broken. The only reason her hand has swelled so much is more than likely that's an absolute lack of internal structure, skele-gro's going to come in handy, though that's some nasty stuff. As far as the stake- I'll get to that when I get to it."

"But I just think-"

"James, can I talk to you for a minute? I think we should let Camille work in peace." Logan asked, standing up, motioning for Katie to go over by Kendall. As James got up and followed him down the hallway, the tension in the room seemed to ease some.

When the two were finally out of earshot, Logan turned to him.

"Look, I understand you're upset with what happened to Riley. But she's going to be fine - Camille's handled worse, I promise you. Do you really think the faerie did all that though?"

"What is this, distract me with battle plans now?"

Logan nodded.

"I don't know what else it could've been, we don't get out much. And I mean, Kendall wouldn't send it after us, no of you would. Would you?"

"If I'd wanted you dead I wouldn't've stopped Kendall. I'm just saying, I've met the faerie too and I just think there's something off about her, those kind like to trick and play games - and a daeva playing games with shadows and lives sounds like it's right up her alley, doesn't it?"

"Wait, so you're actually-"

"I'm not offering to help go after her, I'm just playing devil's advocate. Going after her won't make the daeva go away, if anything, it'll make the attacks worse - and next time it might not just be Riley."

James paused, thinking. Riley had been attacked because bracelet the had been taken – who knew what would happen to him if he lost the other half?

"Crazy as this is I think I know a way we can control the daeva after all…I'm just not sure it's the best idea."

"Well what is it?"

James shrugged, glancing down the hall just in time to see several sets of bandages wrapping themselves around Riley's arm, her knee having been set into a brace as the dislocation had been reset and the ligament repaired.

"There's a stronger demon that Riley's heard of. I won't go jumping into that and trying to get it to help, I don't want to get myself killed. I mean, most times, you just have to fight fire with fire."

"There's a demon stronger than these daevas? And you want to get it involved? What if that thing turns on you?"

"I said I'm not going to get it to help, it's just a crazy idea. She'd killed me anyways if I did that."

Both boys turned at the sound of Camille sighing before hearing her call for them.

"Is everythi-" James started, but before he could finish Camille nodded.

"I've fixed most of the damage arm and legwise, that brace is just on her leg until we get the stake out, it'll keep her from injuring herself if she starts thrashing. I've got a compression sleeve on her hand for now; two rounds of skele-gro should repair all the damage there. Her collarbone's only broken in two places – that's nothing," she paused, smiling as she flicked her wand again, pointing it where the fractures had been obvious, a soft, "Episkey!" following.

"You two – I'm gonna need help with the stake. We're waking her up for it, so I can track how severe the injury is. It didn't go all the way through, but it's lodged in there pretty good. She's gonna need blood-" she paused at the immediate look James gave her as he pulled up the arm of his hoodie up his shoulder, "And it can't be yours because you're dead."

"She's dead too, what's it matter?" Kendall added, still regretting that he'd even allowed two vampires into the apartment.

"Just because she's technically dead doesn't mean she can't die again from blood loss, Kendall. You as a vampire hunter should know that. Blood loss, stake and decapitation, that's how you kill them. Speaking of which – you might want to take Katie and go for a walk, this could get gory."

Kendall rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything else, although Katie spoke for the first time since James and Riley had shown up.

"Medical shows are fine, this is nothing. I can handle it."

Camille gave Kendall a look, like he should be trying to convince his younger sister to go for the walk as suggested, but then returned her gaze to the task at hand.

"If she needs blood…I'll do it." Everyone turned to look at Logan.

"Dude, no! You're a- werewolf. We don't know what mixing vampire and that blood'll do! That could kill her if the stake doesn't!" James protested, though he followed when Camille motioned for him to sit on the floor in the space just above Riley's head, so that she could see him if she looked straight up and he leaned in.

"Think about it though – the odds of having the blood of two supernatural creatures in your veins is better than one. She'll be stronger that way."

"Yeah, but-"

"I'm doing you a favor. If you truly want her to live, you'll let me do this. If you're as serious about her as you were about starting the band in the first place –"

"Alright, alright, fine! I just want her better…"

Logan nodded, and Camille called for Carlos to come and help too - keeping Riley still wasn't going to be easy.

An hour later and Katie had agreed to letting Riley rest in her room until she could atleast walk, being shock and fatigue had settled in after the stake had been removed. After stitches and a few layers of bandages however, Camille determined she'd be as good as new in a few days.

Getting Riley to drink from Logan hadn't been as tough as everyone thought it'd be, though she did protest at first at its odd smell. Upon James' reassurance however, she put her lips to his arm and drank.

Sitting up against one of the pillows on Katie's bed where she'd been laying, Riley turned her head slowly, amazed that it didn't hurt anymore. Smiling as she looked around at the pictures in the room, she noticed they were almost all of Kendall and his younger sister. He really does love her…and I'm the reason he almost lost her…

A knock on the door causes her to look up, and she's slightly surprised at the girl in the doorway, holding a glass of water and three small vials.

"Glad to see you're up, James has been pacing the living room for the past half hour now. Drink these – Camille said they'll make your hand better, and replace what blood the feeding didn't."

"Feeding? I was fine." Riley asked, confused as the girl dropped the three vials into Riley's free hand.

"Well yeah, but not after we got the stake out. Than you needed it, and it couldn't be James' because he's dead and Logan volun-"

"But he's a werewolf! I'm a-how-" she stuttered, opening the vials and drinking them, afterwards clearing the glass of water before continuing, "Do you know what that could do to me?!"

"That's the exact reaction James had. Do you want me to tell him know you're awake?"

Riley sighed, beginning to feel really bad after realizing how nice the high schooler was in person.

"Actually Katie…I wanted to talk to you…I need to apologize for something. You might not believe me, but I need to say it. I'm the reason you were attacked – I'm the one that made James go after you."

Brown eyes widen for a moment, and without warning the redhead finds her earlobe being pulled, til she's up and out of bed, having to follow the young girl down the hall.

"Ow ow ow ow let go!"

"Tell him what you just told me." She stated, having pulled Riley out into the living room, right in front of Kendall.

"It's my fault Katie was attacked, I'm the one that made James go after her." Riley admitted, rubbing her ear when the seventeen year old finally let go of it.

Kendall's upper lip twitched, and for a moment she'd thought he was going to snarl, but he only said "Not that I didn't already know that, but it's not like I can try staking you on the spot when it would cost me my life to do so," to which almost on cue she felt James' arms around her.

Lifting her up and turning her around so she wouldn't have to walk, he looked her over, noticing she already looked better than she had that morning.

Looking around the room, Riley realized the others were still there.

"So I need to explain…like I told Katie, I feel terrible for being the reason she got attacked – Kendall I completely understand why you want to kill me still. Logan – you didn't have to do the transfusion, you really didn't and you still did. Camille – I owe you my life, there was no way I'd be standing if it weren't for your healing abilities. And Carlos, I'm sure you helped out this whole time – you kept Kendall from killing me, that's enough."

The four nodded, though Camille crossed her arms.

"I only helped because it was my duty as a healer, you're still a vindictive psychotic problem causing bitch as far as I'm concerned."

Riley went from smiling to bitchface in two seconds, before she felt James kiss her hair and whisper a 'but you're my psychotic bitch,' into her ear, causing her to giggle.

"Here we go again. Now that you're healed, can you leave?"

Riley shrugged, turning to look at Kendall.

"Depends, do you think Big Time Rush will be able to work together again? I'm not talking as a band - more as a few friends trying to save the world."

Kendall was about to argue when James interrupted his train of thought, "I did promise I'd try to make things right for all this. Starting with getting the daevas off our back and figuring out what we're up against."

"Well my visions are absolute destruction, so just imagine the riots if the Flyers won the cup, basically. But with more fire and chaos."

This actually caused all four of the boys to laugh, in the hockey world pretty much no one liked Philadelphia.

Kendall looked at Logan, then Carlos, then Katie.

"Riley did apologize for it, and you already know how bad James felt about the whole thing...atleast give it a shot, big brother."

"But-"

"Kendall, I won't do anything like that ever again, I swear. After watching Riley die almost twice now, I've realized I'll do anything I can to make sure we stay together - means no getting myself killed over being stupid like that was, even if it was her idea. I know you won't trust me, but for the sake of us all possibly ending up dead in the near future, let's try to make this work?" James tried.

Kendall huffed, but looked around the group once more, surprising everyone when the ghost of smile flitted across his lips.

"If Gustavo could turn four dogs from Minnesota into popstars, I guess I can try to make this work."


	26. Chapter 26

After finding out that Riley and James were dealing with daevas, Taelia reported back to her master. Finding the trees that were imbued with faerie magic, she walked through and was again transported to her underground sanctuary. She walked down the same hallway until she came to the room where her master resided. She knocked on the stone door and waited until she was bade entrance from within. She stepped inside the room and closed the door behind her.

"Lady Illshya?" she asked, stepping forward tentatively

"Yes child, what is it?" replied the demon, not turning to face her

"I have an update on Riley. It seems like she's gotten herself into a bit of trouble."

"What kind of trouble?"

"Well, it seems like her stupid boyfriend managed to summon a daeva, and now it's out of control."

Illshya spun around to face Taelia.

"A daeva? Really? How interesting. I'm surprised."

"Surprised by what, my lady?"

"Surprised that her boyfriend could summon a daeva. That's ancient magic, as ancient as myself. How did you find out?"

"Well, she had sent me a message saying that she had done something in revenge towards a vampire hunter. When I went to investigate, she almost seemed proud of it. While I was there, I managed to grab this," Taelia said, pulling out the bracelet piece from her pocket.

Illshya stared at it quizzically.

"Apparently it is some kind of binding object. It's supposed to help the person control the daeva."

At this statement, Illshya laughed.

"What's so funny?" Taelia asked

"She is even more foolish than I thought! That little toy won't do anything to help her control the daeva. There is only one person who can truly control the daevas," Illshya replied.

"And who is that?"

"Me," Illshya replied, smirking.

"So you're saying you could help them get rid of it?" Taelia asked

"Oh yes, I can help them all right. In fact, why don't you set up a meeting between her latest boy toy and me, and I'll show them just how much I can help them," Illshya said with a laugh.

It made Taelia uncomfortable how quickly Illshya had agreed to help. Nonetheless, she left the sanctuary and sent a message to James, telling him to meet her the next night in a small cafe and that she had found someone to help with the daeva problem.

Once Riley had recovered enough, she and James left Kendall's apartment to go home and rest. Everyone else did the same. Camille gathered up all of her supplies and apparated back to the hotel with Logan and Carlos. They decided to order room service and as they waited for it to arrive, they sat and talked amongst themselves. Carlos was sitting in the chair next to the table. Logan was laying on the bed, his arm resting on his forehead. After letting Riley feed from him to regain her strength, he was exhausted. He felt Camille nestle herself next to him.

"So, do we really think that trusting James is a good idea?" he asked, sighing

"I don't think we have much of a choice. If we're going to prevent the end of the world, we're going to need him. Though I could really do without that bitch of a girlfriend. I swear, I only healed her because it was my duty, not because I wanted to," Camille said as she felt Logan intertwine his fingers with hers.

"Take it easy, Camille. I think we all know how you feel about her. But I think you did the right thing. and I mean, James sounded like he really wanted to try and make amends for what he did, so I think it's a good idea that we started to trust him again. I just hope that nothing else goes wrong," Carlos said, getting up to answer the door. He brought the food to the table and distributed it among the three of them.

They ate in silence and after cleaning up, they all fell asleep quickly as dreams of a better future danced in their heads.

The next night, James made his way to the address that Taelia had sent him. It was a small coffee shop that had kind of a rustic, homey feel. He saw the faerie standing by a table. Seated at the table was a girl. She had long brown hair that was tied back in a braid and fierce green eyes. As he approached the table, she stood up.

"James, this is Illshya. Illshya, this is James," Taelia said, introducing the two of them.

James stuck out his hand and Illshya shook it. The moment that she touched his hand, James could tell that she was no ordinary human.

"Please, sit down," Illshya said, gesturing for James to sit across from her.

"Well, I'll leave you to it," Taelia said, bowing slightly and teleporting away.

"So James, Taelia tells me you're having a problem," Illshya began.

James nodded. "Yes. I summoned a daeva to try and get revenge on a vampire hunter for almost killing someone that I care about. But now it's backfired and the daeva is out of my control. Can you help me?"

"Well, as you have probably already guessed, I am not a human. I am actually a demon, but not just any demon. I am one of the 12 Great Demons."

"Great Demons?" James asked, confused

She nodded. "Yes. Long ago, before any living creatures walked the earth, it was inhabited by demons of all sorts. Of all the demons, there were 12 that were more powerful and each of us ruled over different domains. I am the demoness of hell."

James scoffed slightly. "You don't look like much. In fact, you look almost human."

Illshya's eyes narrowed as she concentrated. Soon, James winced in pain and grabbed at his forearm. Lifting the sleeve of his shirt, he noticed a burn mark in the shape of a hand, as if someone had grabbed his arm. He looked back at Illshya, his eyes wide.

"Still think I look like a human? Believe me boy, I'm more powerful than you can imagine, and to get rid of the daevas, you're going to need someone like me. Do you want my help or not?"

As much as James knew it was tricky to try and trust a demon, he had no other choice.

"Yes, I need your help."

"Excellent. I shall help you then, but in order to make it official, I require that you enter into a contract with me. Be warned however, that when we're done, I shall demand payment."

"That's fine. I'll pay it, no matter the cost."

Illshya grinned even more.

She pulled a piece of paper out of her jacket pocket and unrolled it. To James' confusion, it was blank.

"So, uh, where's the contract?" he asked

"It's right here."

"But there's no writing on it."

"Oh don't worry. It'll appear."

Before James could do anything, Illshya had reached across the table and grabbed James by the wrist. She took a knife out of her other pocket and sliced his palm. James winced as blood began to flow from his hand and onto the paper below. As it landed on the paper, it seemed like it was absorbed by the paper and the more blood that was absorbed, the more that words began to appear. After a moment, Illshya let his wrist go and James licked the blood from his hand as the wound closed up. Illshya held up the paper and James saw that it was a contract. She let him read it for a moment before folding it and putting it back in her coat.

"Well, now that that's done, let's shake on it, really make it official," she said as she extended her hand.

James took her hand and shook it. As he did, he wondered if he had made the right decision.

"Now that that's all done, why don't you show me back to your place so that I can start to try and take care of this problem of yours."

James nodded and stood up. He led Illshya back to the place that he and Riley shared. He unlocked the door and motioned for Illshya to wait in the hall.

"Hey Riley, come here for a minute. I think I found someone who can help us with our little "problem"," he said as he took off his shoes. Riley came walking out of the kitchen, drinking blood from a glass.

"That's great, love. Who did you find?" she asked as she embraced him

James stepped aside and motioned for Illshya to step into the apartment. When Riley saw who it was, her eyes widened as she felt the glass slip from her hands.

"Surprise, bitch. Bet you thought you'd seen the last of me," Illshya said, smirking.

Trying to smile despite the absolute sense of rage she felt, Riley managed to turn to James and laugh.

"You're serious? The whole - you probably agreed to a deal with her, right? Maybe Taelia's right...if it's not the daeva that's going to kill us - well, something else here will have no problem arranging that!"

Turning back towards Illshya and stepping over the glass she'd dropped, she narrowed her eyes.

"I still haven't forgiven you for everything else, and I never will. I'm surprised you even agreed to help. Of course, you probably had no clue I'm the one the deava's been after. Naturally, I'll expect you'll want to back out of helping - seeing as you like me miserable and all given the last two hundred or so years."

Illshya snorted.

"Contract's been sealed, honey. Can't change a thing now. Oh and stop fussing over him, we've both lost our shot. And besides, getting rid of that daeva should fix one of your problems. How you'll handle Taelia, I'm not sure."

James looked from Riley to Illshya and back again.

"Wait, you know-"

"Of course I know. I'm the one that showed her the devil's trap she used to scare this one here," Illshya explained, setting a hand on Riley's shoulder, to which the redhead flinched and brushed her away immediately. "But besides that - tinkerbell thinks she's out to take over the world, it seems. I've heard things I think I should've thought of doing, you know we demons are all for causing trouble and destruction."

All for causing trouble and destruction.

"You've gotta be kidding me. There's no way this is a coincidence, it's nuts." James realized, grabbing for his phone to go through the texts he'd gotten from the guys over the past few days.

"What's not a coincidence?" Riley asked.

"That Illshya's the one I found to help with the daeva. Taelia's the one who introduced me to her. And don't you remember, that night she showed up here wanting meet me? What she said before you two got into it? Something wanted to end the world, and supernatural creatures weren't even safe."

Riley had to think about that for a minute, but when it clicked, it clicked.

"Bitch was tipping us off about herself. How the-" Looking back at Illshya, she shrugged, "I know I should be really really mad at you right now but thanks to figuring this out I'm not even sure that's possible! I KNEW I SHOULD'VE KILLED HER WHEN I FOUND OUT SHE'D BEEN THE ONE TO PUT THAT TRAP DOWN!"

Illshya nodded.

"See? You're so blindsided over revenge concerning William while I'm trying to help you figure out the real problem. And speaking of problems - how has the daeva been lately? By now I'm guessing you've learned binding agents don't really do anything to protect you."

"I just want to get rid of it...it was such a bad idea. See I thought we'd use it to get back at Kendall, but it's like this is turning into a zombie movie - we're all fighting amongst each other when we should be trying to pay attention to what could really kill us, y'know?" Riley admitted, squeaking when James' arms went around her waist and he pulled her on to his lap to get her to finally sit still.

"Oh come on, I'm not five!"

Illshya and James both laughed.

"Alright - you two - just pack a day bag or something, I can find you guys after I take care of everything. This'll all be okay, I promise."

Riley bit her lip, like she'd been thinking through something.

"Promise from a demon - seems a little too good to be true, but if it'll keep me from getting killed again I suppose it's worth it."


	27. Chapter 27

As soon as James and Riley had left, Illshya looked around the apartment. It was cozy, having been lived in for sometime now. Walking through it, she could feel the daevas' presence, particularly in the living room and the bath - where Riley had explained the daeva had taken clear advantage of her.

While she stood in the living room, Illshya muttered a few ancient words, and soon the shadow of the daeva appeared in front of her.

"I'm surprised you allowed yourself to be summoned, though I'll assume you didn't heed the bind," she spoke to it, watching it waiver as if to indicate a response.

"You know I control you, which is why I'm also surprised you are the thing to hurt the girl - who is working for me." she continued.

And like this had jinxed something, there was a soft pop and Taelia had appeared in the room.

"Oh come on! Are you really that stupid to think she's still working for you? She's secretly trying to kill you!"

Illshya turned to face the faerie perched on the couch, the daeva at the same time disappeared, having gotten the message it was to cause no further harm.

"I'm well aware the vampire wants me dead, though being I'm helping rid them of this problem, it'd be stupid on her part to try anything. You on the other hand - I've heard you're more involved than you imply."

Taelia laughed, crossing her legs.

"My Lady, there's nothing to worry about. I just thought I'd get everyone involved - since Riley's boyfriend is one of the band members, I found a way to run into the rest, that's all. More lives to mess with, since I know how you like making trouble. It'll be fairly easy to get them all into one place and kill them, and then we'll be free to do as we please - any hunters or supernatural creatures in the area will be out of range to stop us. Isn't this great!"

The demoness of hell tried to shake off how cheery the faerie had sounded, like it was a lie - something about how she was acting seemed like it was set up, and given how Illshya in a sense was tipping the other two off about Taelia, everything seemed to make sense.

"Death and destruction, exactly what I like to hear. You've done well, planning all this. I've told Riley I'd find her after I get rid of the deava, which I've done - where will you be for the remainder of the night? We've much to plan, if everything you say is true."

Taelia grinned.

"I'll be around, but why would I tell you exactly where I am?" And with a wink and another pop, Illshya was in the room alone, the daeva under her control; knowing it was to interfere no longer until she called it to serve her.

When she had time to do a final check of the apartment, just to make sure Riley hadn't left traps or such, paranoid that perhaps Taelia had been serious about the vampire trying to kill her, she sighed and walked back outside, teleporting to the local Starbucks, having a hunch she'd find the couple there after noticing the abundance of K-Cups and coffee mugs in the kitchen, despite the bloodbags she knew they really were drinking.

When Illshya had come to retrieve the two of them from the Starbucks they'd found, Riley wasn't surprised that she'd been able to find them. It seemed like supernatural creatures just had a way of finding other ones, whether they wanted to be found or not.

After settling into the living room, the three were quiet for a few minutes, before the demon finally spoke.

"About that payment, now that I've solved your problem. I can promise, the daevas will never bother you again. And you signed in blood, remember. It's binding." She reminded James, who winced at the memory.

"Anything, I said I'd pay. So what's the cost?"

Illshya laughed, pausing to look at Riley, who looked between her and James - certainly she had to have some idea of what she was going to say?

"Nothing of grave importance, seeing your type tend to not use it much as you get older."

"I swear to god, if you're gonna say and organ like my heart-" James started before Riley cut in, "Oh honey you know that's too much work for her, and you're already dead."

"Which is why you won't mind if I take his soul, right, Riley?" Illshya finally said.

"But - we don't have them. They go away when we turn!" she protested.

"Which is why I'll be taking his physical form, then. Muscles, voice and all."

"But- YOU DON'T NEED A NEW VESSEL!"

Illshya practically face palmed at how much of an idiot Riley was being, but she only set a hand on the girl's arm.

"Dear girl, I'm not talking about taking his body for a vessel. I'm taking him to hell with me, where he'll work on the rack - like Dean, in your precious show - torturing souls, seeing as he doesn't have one. It's a fair trade off, given you're safe now like he wanted."

"You want- me to- hell- like-WAIT WHAT?!" James yelled, finally getting what she meant.

It was quiet, Illshya electing not to react to him. And, Riley spoke, voice more of a growl, causing the demon to snicker at the reference she'd made.

"Not my fiancé, you bitch."

Riley took a running start at the demon, but with a simple snap of her fingers the red head had been thrown into the wall on the opposite side of the room, landing face down on the coffee table, which broke on impact.

"Nice try sweetheart, but a deal's a deal. He said he'd pay, whatever the cost. Just to keep you safe. I'm just holding up my end. The faerie may have lied, but I don't."

"But you didn't say-" James started, only to have Illshya smirk and turn to look at him, putting a finger against his lips.

"Hush. We didn't lie. We just avoided certain truths to manipulate you. Now, with a body like that you'll do jjuusstt fine on the rack, mhm that'll be-"

"I swear if I had a damn angel blade for that quote, you'd be-" he continued, seething at the sight of Riley once again injured. trying to push herself into sitting up, pulling shards of glass out of her arms and wincing.

"Oh, dear boy - I'm not an angel. Ruby's little knife wouldn't do much either, even if it did exist. I'm as old as time, what makes you think a few other supernatural creatures would defeat me? The faerie of mine was the real danger - but now that's solved and we know how to take care of her, I need payment. Come along."

With another snap of her fingers, James found himself walking towards the door, the brunette following, whistling hi-ho from Snow White.

He heard more than saw Riley pull herself to her feet before Illshya flicked her wrist and she went flying backwards, again.

"JAMESY!"

When a sudden turn and a few hand movements, Illshya pushed James out the door and slammed the door behind him, turning to glare at Riley, walking towards her.

Tears were already falling from icy blue eyes, but when Illshya's hand closes around the hybrid's throat, Riley about knows any fight is pointless.

"Now there's a reason I didn't take you, little one. I know you'd much prefer to be with him - you are engaged after all, though why you wear no ring confounds me. What better way to torture your now-immortally damned soul than to have him with the person you despise most in the entire universe?" And smiling, Illshya dropped her and walked back out of the apartment without another word.

Getting to her feet, Riley dives for the door, opening it to find no one there - both James and Illshya were gone, and it was starting to rain.

She wasn't about to take James and the demon disappearing lying down, no, she was going to fight. Taking off to Kendall's, she knocked on the door to his apartment and waited, still expecting the hunter to be cold towards her, but once he saw her face, he stepped aside.

"You've been crying, I can tell. And since you're alone again, something's wrong." He observed, surprised he was just letting her walk in.

"It's the demon. I mean, it's James – I just – we made this deal with a demon to get rid of the daevas that were following us, because my friend, well ex-friend Taelia said the demon controlled them and could get rid of them and now it went and took him as payment because he doesn't have a soul and I miss him and she should've taken me because I hate her because we have this whole backstory and oh Taelia is the bad guy in all this but I just-"

"Woah, Riley, slow down. One thing at a time, okay?" Logan interrupted, motioning for Riley to sit down on the couch, she still wiping at her eyes with one of James' hoodies.

"James made a deal with a demon to get rid of the deavas." She repeated, noticing Kendall's eyes widen.

"Demon? Weren't the deavas bad enough? I'd think he'd be smarter than to go right for more trouble," Carlos added.

"Well she got rid of the daevas, and then she basically took him to hell with her, because he had no soul she could take instead. So he's gone, and I mi-"

"We get it, you've never been away from him and now he's downstairs with a creature you hate. What was after that?"

Riley looked around, as if the faerie would be able to hear her when she spoke about her.

"Taelia is the bad guy. She's the one trying to take over the world – Logan, it's not a coincidence that Camille was the one to heal her and that you got a weird feeling about her. She's the reason James made the deal with Illshya. She's trying to make sure the world goes into chaos."

Camille inhaled in realization.

"Wait, that faerie – she's the – wow, Logie, you were right all along. But how – if James is in hell, and there's only us, what do we do to stop it?"

"You're asking us? Hell if I kn-" Kendall started before Logan cut him off.

"Actually, I've got an idea. I need to go make a phone call though, I'll be right back."

Deciding that there had been too many weird things going on lately, Logan excused himself from the room and pulled out his phone. He waited for the number to connect.

"Hey Lucian, it's Logan. Listen, I need a favor. Have you ever heard of a demon named Illshya?"

The buildup to the final battle had been well planned - between Lucian and Riley's years of supernatural fighting experience alone, it was easy to come up with a plan, especially with a hunter like Kendall able to see the whole thing from a different perspective. Logan, Carlos and Camille would be able to help out too, but the biggest surprise came about a week after the entire thing had been worked out, down to the location.

"I'm not going, guys."

The entire room turns to look at Riley, who shrugs off the looks.

"Why not? Half this fight is your idea, and Taelia's pretty much your-"

"That's why, Carlos. If I'm there she'll go for me, and I doubt all of you would be able to fight and have my back the entire time. And besides, I need to plan...maybe if I take a little road trip it'll clear my head."

"Wait-"

"Plan what?"

She grinned sheepishly, like she'd rather not talk about it.

"How to get James out of hell."


	28. Chapter 28

The battle had been raging for the better part of an hour. Everyone was fighting their hardest, but Taelia put up more of a fight than anyone expected.

If Riley had been there, she might've been able to land a few hits, but that would have been about it. Maybe it was better that she'd taken the battle away from Minnesota - if fact, she hadn't even told the guys where she was going!

Kendall had gone on enough hunts that had given him trouble, but Taelia was more than he'd ever dealt with - the multiple weapons Katie had designed were seemingly useless, and the vampire slaying weapons wouldn't do any good against a different supernatural creature.

Logan had been fighting this battle without transforming, but he was getting tired. He knew that if he didn't shift into full Lycan mode, he wasn't going to stand a chance. Just as he prepared himself to change, he felt a searing pain as claws from the daevas ripped into his body. It was too much for him to handle and he fell to the ground. He heard Camille scream beside him and as she prepared to retaliate, he smirked.

As Taelia walked forward, aiming all of her energy at Camille, there came a growl as six Lycans came out of the shadows and laid into Taelia. One of them came walking towards Logan and extended a hand.

"Lucian, it's good to see you," Logan said.

The Lycan leader nodded.

"Well well well, if it isn't my old friend, Lucian. How nice to see you," said Illshya as she walked towards Lucian.

He nodded in her direction. "Lady Illshya, my associate Logan told me you've taken one of his friends and sent him down to hell. Now why would you do that?" he questioned, his voice smooth

Illshya smiled as she reached out and rubbed his arm.

"What's the matter, can't I have any fun?"

Lucian grabbed her wrist and pulled it away from his arm. "Let him go. That's not part of your plan, and you know it."

Illshya sighed dramatically. "Oh, you're no fun."

Reluctantly, Illshya disappeared and when she returned, she was holding James by the arm.

"There, happy now?" she asked, rolling her eyes.

"Yes. And now, there's only one thing left. What are we going to do with her?" Lucian asked, gesturing to Taelia who was being restrained by several of Lucian's men.

"Ah yes, Miss Taelia Rose. What should your punishment be? Torture? A mind wipe. No no, I've got something even better for you." Illshya said, her eyes sparkling with delight.

"Please, no! I've been a loyal servant!" she exclaimed, trying to get free.

Illshya laughed. "Loyal yes, but not to me. You only worked to achieve your own means. While I admire that, I cannot allow you to continue living."

Without giving her a chance to respond, Illshya began to recite an ancient curse and after a few moments, Taelia's body exploded into pixie dust, which was scattered to the wind.

Everyone cheered, the main reason for Carlos' vision of chaos and destruction were gone, things could go back to normal now. Looking around the room, James wasn't surprised to see the rest of his bandmates battle-worn but still smiling at it being over. Even Camille had gotten in on the fight, though she at the moment was tending to what wounds the others had acquired.

Only one thing kept the scene from being as happy as it could've been, and when James realized it, he turned on the demon with a snarl.

"Where. Is. She?"

Illysha grinned, picking at her nails, humming like she hadn't heard him. When she did this after a few moments, James repeated himself.

"I said, Where. IS. SHE?!"

Illshya huffed and finally looked up.

"Look, you're out of hell and she's safe, I promise. Isn't that enough? Like you wanted."

'Like you wanted' It stung, but James knew she was right.

"So do I get an answer?"

She laughed, "If you really want to know, think back to the start, pretty boy." And with the snap of her fingers, she was gone.

"The faerie's dead. No more wanting to take over the world, and we're all talking again. Things are alright with me." Kendall pointed out after Camille had finished stitching what gashes the daeva had left on his leg.

"You guys think maybe we could get back to how we were? I mean, I've been itching to record to be honest..." Logan added, Carlos nodding.

"It's not like there's much to do otherwise. We don't necessarily have to go back out to LA, there's record studios could all stay here in Minnesota if we wanted, so it's like the old days - well, before the old days."

Logan and Carlos nodded in agreement, but then they realized James was still quiet.

"You okay, James?"

He shrugged, staring off, still thinking about what the demon had said before disappearing.

Think back to the start.

"I'm lying if I say yes. So yeah, I'm fine! I'll just never see Riley again!"

Logan and Kendall looked at each other, knowing they'd talked to Riley but a week earlier, planning out the final battle that she wasn't going to be present for. They knew she was still alive, but with what the demon had said, it seemed like it was setting another plan it wanted James to figure out, as if it could torture him more now that he wasn't trapped in hell.

"I'm sure you will. She said to think back to the start, right?"

"The start of what? The band? The failed solo career? Since I met Riley, that's how - oh. Oh. I'm an idiot - I know what she means!"

"Which is?" All three of them asked.

"We've gotta go back to Chicago if we're gonna record anything. There's a few local places I need to check out."

About a year later:

Riley wasn't sure how long it'd been - hockey season had come and gone, baseball was just about to start up again. If the first week without him had been hell, the months following had had an almost unrelenting sense of numbness about them.

Prior to the final battle, she'd left Minnesota for the eastern seaboard, being she wanted a vacation and had a reason for it, figuring she'd come back a few days after the battle. It'd gone well from what she'd heard, though she'd heard it from the last possible person she had expected. Illshya, of all people, had been the one to let her know that Taelia had been killed - she'd manifested during an episode of Supernatural on screen, and disappeared just as quickly after delivering the news. But then it was back to apathy, day to day numbness.

But gradually, she came back to life - easiest way of course, was pretending like this was just another hiatus, that the band had just broken up all over again. She'd started back with the old albums, the priceless acoustic videos with the swoopy bangs and still-present voice cracks. Everything from that era, except Stuck - she couldn't listen to it, knowing it reminded her of that night literally seven years ago that month that they'd met for the first time.

It had been a normal day, aside from the rain that hadn't let up since the night before. Walking out into the living room, she still found it hard to not find James in the kitchen, grabbing various glasses and deciding which coffee creamer to mix the blood with this time. Well, it was normal until her phone buzzed with a number she hadn't seen in a few years.

"Rachel? How do you know I still have this number?" Riley had to cover a gasp at the familiar voice on the other end of the line.

"I realized how stupid I was, you disowning you and all when you left when back when. I miss you. And I've got news - we've got enough income to expand the shop next door!"

"Really? Wait, the little - awh, is my stage still there?"

"Still waiting for you and a guitar to come back and not leave it so cold at night." Rachel replied with a laugh.

"So you expanded, to what, a cafe? Bagels and coffee?"

"Try books. Like a little indy Barnes & Noble."

"Oh shut up. You, reading? That's new. But it's the same place, yeah?"

"Right offa Rush street, like the old days. And even if you don't live upstairs anymore, I found somebody to lease the place to. You'd be surprised, seems like you'd know who it was, everybody seems to miss you around here."

"You can quit trying to guilt me into coming to visit, I'll come by one day."

"Like this week?!"

"Oh why the hell not, it'll be nice to go back home. Minnesota's nice, but...ever since he left it's not the same." Riley sighed, trying not to explain the whole thing with James, knowing her older sister couldn't possibly understand.

"Since who left? DID THAT PRETTY BOY BREAK YOU HEART? I'LL BREAK HIS NECK!"

Riley had to stifle a giggle at that, the years apart hadn't changed that sisterly bond one bit.

"He got cold feet...we'd been talking the talk, and he just - up and went one day without a word." she explained.

"Oh honey...that's why I'm here. Come back and work for a bit, let the aroma of the coffee clear your head - I'll let you read Fifty Shades under the counter and you can have your stage back, how's that sound?"

"I'll be there tomorrow afternoon, Rach. See you then."

"And for the record - you're back in the family."

After hanging up with her sister, Riley smiled. She never thought she'd hear those words leave her mouth after the argument they had after she'd found out that she was picking up stakes (no pun intended) to find a place in Minnesota with James.

In fact, the only thing that would make her happier again probably was working the counter, if only she wouldn't have the nights alone to remind her of the first time they met.

'Sigh. I mean...I guess…' Riley thought as she poked her head around the corner of the coffee shop wall from the back alley she'd just teleported to. It was a very dark and cloudy day and, of course, it was raining. It always had to be raining. But she's used to that sort of thing anyways lately.

Walking out from the alley and to the sidewalk, she looked at the building. It was still the same as it always looked, but the inside had to be different. Walking up to the old wooden door and pulling on the handle, she stepped inside. Immediately, the smells of coffees from all over the world hit all at once, but it was oh-so-great.

Looking around, she couldn't believe how the place was renovated! It was still the same old place she knew and loved, but there were books everywhere. There were antique bookcases filled with books both old and new, there were the greatest and latest books sitting out on little wooden coffee tables for people to read and purchase, and there were even new plush couches and chairs to sit in. She always had loved the good ol' coffee shop, but the addition of the books really filled the void that the place had been missing.

Wiping her shoes on the mat and walking around to look at everything closely, she walked up to a bookcase and ran her fingertips across the shelf and along the sides, noticing the intricate carvings in them. It was so beautiful; she was in awe.

To think the entire shop had changed, yet it still felt like nothing had at the same time.

Turning away from the bookshelf, she saw in the corner of the shop was a small wooden platform with a plush barstool, a music stand, microphone stand, and one small amp. A few lights hung from metal tracks above and the switches and controls for everything was all on the wall on a small, not big and obnoxious, control panel. Riley couldn't help but smile. Everything was brand new, just for her.

Normally, she would've gladly sat down and started playing, but for some reason, something drew her towards the counter, or at least one of the free spots along there. She didn't think twice about flipping her phone out and pulling up the secret menu, knowing whatever barista her sister had trained would be wise to have the menu memorized.

"I'll take whatever the special is tonight, venti." Her voice is light, almost as though she's teasing - see, when she worked nightside, they ALWAYS had specials, usually a secret menu thing that was advertised just for that night.

Opening up the book she'd grabbed off the nearby table, she settled in and started reading it, only looking up to grab the mug that had been set in front of her.

And naturally, this takes her by surprise - it's chai, with caramel and mocha syrup, with a dollop of chocolate whip cream and more mocha drizzle, and then dusted with chocolate chips on top. It's the gingersnap chai.

'My gingersnap chai. Wait. Gingersnap? That's seasonal, usually October, I only served it in April because it reminded me of the first time I saw Big Time-'

It's a few moments before she realizes the small aux cable is plugged into a phone, and vaguely she can recognize the one song she hasn't listened to in years, partially because it's too painful.

'Keep gettin' stuck, stuck, but I'm never givin' up, up..."

She has to set the mug down before she collapses into a choking fit, being as she's swallowed wrong and is pretty sure Rachel just randomly inviting her down to the coffee shop isn't just because she thought Riley would like it.

And when she look up at the barista - swear to god, if Riley'd still been a human her heart would've stopped dead in its tracks and she probably would've passed out at the same time.


	29. Chapter 29

Hazel eyes have never been brighter, and she's momentarily starstruck (not unlike the first time) by an award winning smile.

"Even after all this time, your eyes still shine like diamonds," he laughs, and she wants to hide, realizing that yeah, she's in Chicago, but hell, she's wearing the damn Minnesota Wild jersey he bought.

"How? When? Why? How the- please jump the counter so I can kiss you!" she practically stutters, brain working faster than her mouth, trying to wrap itself around the fact that he's not locked in hell with the demonic bitch that actually wasn't all that bad after all, but is here, literally in front of her, swoopy bangs back with a lavender apron on.

Even though there were humans everywhere, her wish was his command and before she knows, she's wrapped up in his arms. Speechless as they're face to face at last, his hazel eyes burning into her blue, she's well aware she can't smell the coffee anymore - her senses and thought are nothing but him.

"I don't- how'd you- Illshya literally- how the- I don't-" she couldn't keep a rational, logical thought for her life, and he knew that, too.

"Awh. Look at you. This is nothing like how we first met. You didn't get all stutter-y then, but now? This is adorable."

She's not even sure what look she can give to that, so she only lean in and kisses him.

It's scary how overdue that's been, she thinks the last time she remembers something like this - must've been the night Illshya kicked them out of the apartment in order to get rid of the daeva, because the next morning she'd dragged him down to hell with her. Briefly Riley is aware her sister must be somewhere in the room, there's no way she would miss this for the world. But then another thought crosses her mind - she said she'd found someone to rent upstairs, the old place. I wonder.

Pulling back, she almost giggle at the familiar fire in his eyes.

"So Rachel mentioned something about someone living upstairs...I'm gonna just take a guess here, but we both know you miss that loft."

He grinned.

"That's not all. I mean, I admire the fact you're in practically hockeytown USA wearing a rival jersey, but I'm sure you haven't forgotten the rest of that promise." he started, and her mind blanks for a solid minute.

"It's not hockey season? There's no game to go to, so that game you wanted to take me to is gonna have to wait, love."

He shook his head, and she instinctively looks around, expecting something out of the ordinary to happen.

"Just because there's no game to go to doesn't mean I can't do what I was going to do there somewhere else," he replies, leading her toward the stage, and she notices the lights are situated just so.

She's soon standing next to the plush covered bar stool, one hand on the mic stand, just because there's a feeling.

"This is the most nerve wracking thing I've ever done - I hope I don't screw this up," James starts and she can't help the grin, knowing exactly what this means. By now she's almost positive that Rachel has her phone camera out and ready.

"Close your eyes, sweetheart."

She does, being she's never heard him sound so sure of himself, so - calm. They both knew what this was, and he was right - Riley doubted even Gustavo's endless criticism could have ever made him this nervous.

When she opens them, it's like she expected. James Diamond, still in his work uniform, is kneeling on one knee in front of her, her left hand in his with the most breath taking smile she's ever seen on his face. She knows people are starting to stare, but she find herself lost in his eyes, as usual.

"I've waited six years for this moment. I remember the night you turned me - to think I wanted to have you completely out of my life, I can't imagine that now. I can't imagine a life without you, and since we're immortal - that doesn't have to happen. Of course, we could keep living like we have been - but that apartment back in Minnesota and the loft here aren't quite the same when one of us is missing. I'd rather spend the rest of eternity knowing you're by my side - and, because I remember the exact night we met," he paused, eyes lighting up as he'd started to sing, "I want us stuck, stuck, cause I'm not givin' you up, up." Reaching into the pocket of the apron, he took out a small black velvet ring box and opened it, still looking directly in her eyes.

"Riley Marie Jameson, will you marry me?"

She nods, somehow managing to make her mouth move as happy tears work their way out of the edges of her eyes.

"Fuck yes, James. Yes, yes, yes. You have no idea how long I've wanted to say that. I mean, since I got the jersey - you always knew it was yes, you know you didn't have to ask."

He smiled; shaking his head as he took the ring out of its box and slipped it onto her finger, "Where's the fun in that? If I'm doing this, I'm gonna do it right - and before you ask, since your parents are out of the picture, I asked your sister for the blessing, which I obviously got."

Her face is starting to hurt, but she could care less - the ring is beautiful, and she realizes it's one of the settings she'd spent hours looking at in the mall jewelry stores! It looked like white gold, with notched accents that had smaller diamonds set around a large center one that probably was atleast a karat in size.

When he finally stands, she throws herself into him and hug him as tightly as she can before standing on her tiptoes to kiss him a second later, faintly aware they've heard the *CLICK* of a phone camera.

She rolls her eyes as she pulls back, and they both laugh as Rachel comes running towards them, smiling like an idiot.

"We won't show up in that, will we?" he asked, and Riley just shrugs and laces her fingers with his, "Nope."

Before she can react, Rachel has locked her arms around James and Riley, and Riley has half the mind to tell her she can't breathe just so she'll let her go.

"I BETTER BE MAID OF HONOR IN THE WEDDING!"

"Only you, don't worry. Would you mind letting James off work early tonight? Today's the first time I've seen him in...I'm not even sure how long."

Rachel nodded, though she'd pursed her lips.

"If I do - assuming I know what the agenda is for you two, I'm gonna ask that you wait until we close before getting wild," she finally replied with a smirk.

"Oh, you- we're NOT that bad!"

Riley looked at James, who had done that stupid laugh when you kinda catch it the back of your throat, almost like a non-verbal 'yeah right'.

Before she has time to react, Rachel hijacked the mp3 player, and, chances of it not be recognizable be damned, she's gotten it to play the one Big Time Rush song Riley actually know the dance to - it had been the first thing she'd taught herself after the break up, wanting to know the dances to keep the old memories alive and fresh.

'Oh no, it's on tonight And here we go

You're looking right, I know you know

So go ahead and let it go go go... go oh'

James doesn't even have to think before he's singing his verse, and to both their surprise, when they hear Carlos, it's not just the recording. Because he, Logan and even Kendall have walked into the coffee shop, all grinning and happy. Like they knew.

"Dance with me." She turn to James, just as Logan starts the pre-chorus.

"But you don't-"

"Oh yes I do!"

And before he can argue he's dropped into the choreography for the routine just as the chorus starts, how he remembers it after all these years Riley can't begin to fathom.

'You wanna wil' out, then wil' out All eyes on you

It's going down, down, right now You can't lose.'

Holy shit I can keep up with him! Her face hurts from smiling so much, but it's good thing. Her legs are steady now, usually when she does these dances she's stumbling and tripping over herself. But here, with James as her partner, knowing the rest of the band is watching - It's an odd sensation - to be doing the choreography like this, to one of their songs, his songs. It's almost as intimate now as it could be when they're alone and the lights are off at home.

'You wanna wil' out, then wil' out That's what you do

Talk of the town now,' She giggles as they stand back to back, nodding in time with the beat, knowing that if this had been the actual video from the show, She''d've been in Kendall's spot.

'And you already know that you're a star A superstar

That you're a star, a superstar That you're a star,

And you already know...'

They end the move the same way from the short video, hand up in the air, palm open. Instinctively he reaches for her free hand, and she lets him, not realizing he breaks form to sweep her into his arms, laughing all the while. As Rachel changes the song again, she notice the guys are walking towards them, to which James sets her down again.

"Aw, I'm guessing we're a little late if you're smiling that much," Logan said, motioning to her hand. Riley only lifted it and nodded, turning to kiss James quickly before facing the guys.

"It's a little odd for you guys to be in Chicago, y'know? All of you, again. It's almost like-"

"There might be a show?" Kendall added, and she's unable to keep a straight face or keep the fangirling yelp from crossing her lips.

"Well I just-"

"Consider it an early wedding gift. It was James' idea, he said you'd seen us as a full band before when you used to live here full time, and now that we've come full circle to being friends again and you're back in Chicago we figured why the hell not." Carlos explained.

"Boys-" she started, still unable to properly word thanks.

"James called us about a month ago, said we had to keep the whole thing on the down low - you wouldn't believe how hard it was to see you and not say anything. And he mentioned you guys probably weren't coming back to Minnesota, so - we figured this could be the farewell show you never had before we broke up." Kendall stated.

Riley continued balking.

"Farewell show? But- Jamesy- I- I didn't say we weren't going back to Minnesota, I just - he lives in my old loft here, it's literally upstairs, I still technically pay rent back home, why can't we keep both places? We can keep here for everyday, atleast until I get used to working again, and then we can use Minnesota as a summer vacation spot, even if it's not one of those fancy mansion homes you see in LA," she reasoned, all of the guys exchanging looks.

"Well Camille and I have been living out of hotels for awhile, since we used to be in England and all...if you guys want to stay here, we can take the old apartment, that way we'll be by Kendall and Katie. And there's enough room that Carlos could probably stay with us if he doesn't want to go back to Mexico." Logan mentioned.

"I'm totally alright with that! Means more time playing hockey!" Carlos agreed, smiling like the rest of them.

"And we DO have a certain release coming up," Kendall reminded the group, causing Riley to turn to look at him, "So that whole tumblr thing with the neon sign of 'we are back - 6.6.15, B.T.R.' is legit?!"

James could only smile.

"So the fans are catching on after all. I think we've got the future cut out for us, though trying to plan a wedding in between tour dates is going to be interesting."

"But then-wait, let's just get married backstage like Gerard and Lyn-Z way did, back on Projekt Revolution!"

Carlos, Kendall and Logan all exchanged a look as James picked Riley back up and swung her around in a circle, she giggling like a five year old before he set her down and kissed her again.

"Well guys, looks like we've got a hell of a summer ahead of us."

"Just like the Big Time Summer Tour from way back when," Rachel added, trying to pretend Kendall hadn't caught her attention the moment he'd walked in. "And you know what that means, right Riley?"

The redhead laughed, turning to hi-five her sister, and James had gotten the feeling this routine had happened one too many times before as the two of them shouted in gleeful unison, "IT'S THE ONLY LIFE YOU GOT SO YOU GOTTA LIVE IT BIG TIME!"


End file.
